Week 46

Hi Everybody!

Well, I am happy to say that this week went a whole lot better than these past few weeks have. We had tons of adventures and crazy stuff happen every day! :)

On Monday we had an awesome lazy day. We washed our clothes and cleaned the house too. We got to sleep in a bit! It was so nice :) We also went over to see Silvia for a lesson with her husband Javier. We went over and Hermano Pancho came with us. Our plan was to start out with the story of the Tree of Life because he keeps having dreams just like that, so we wanted to help him understand his dreams and that he can change his direction to the Straight and Narrow path. It was going really well but then Pancho started talking and completely changed the idea to the story of Moses somehow... it was crazy fast…I don't know what happened…but then he straight-up told Javier that he needs to get married to Silvia and he can do it for free on Valentine’s Day....HUH!?? That came out of nowhere! But what was cool- we might have a baptism finally with Silvia!! …but we have no idea where our lesson went....weird. :0

On Tuesday we had our district meeting and it was pretty fun. We talked about contacting and we had some pretty great practices with each other. We also FINALLY did our White Elephant gift exchange. I had Hermana Bigelow and I gave her a shirt and a bag of candy. I didn't receive mine because one of the zone leaders has me and they weren't there. We had comida with Hermana Nolasco and we shared something about the temple with her. We also went out with Hermana Fransisca to meet a friend of hers and we thought that was all we were going to go out and do with her.... Nope. We went out for two hours contacting people and we found a few cool new people to visit!! One person, I don't know how we're going to teach them. Her name is Kevin....!?  But it's cool. We also visited Nary Asucena and read a scripture to her about charity. She's still reading her scriptures really well. 

On Wednesday I literally jumped out into the street saying,  "I'm going on an adventure!" We left the house at 9 in the morning to walk and work in Benito Juarez. It's a part of our area that no one has gone to in years. But it's also one of the most dangerous parts of the area….but we went out walking and found quite a few people to talk to and to help with many things. We helped a family carry wood to their house and afterward we had a lesson with them and they accepted a Book of Mormon! Then we kept walking and found an Hermano building his house. He is so ready for the gospel. He used to be catholic, but as he read the Bible a bit more he realized how much he felt how wrong that church is, so he left it. He accepted the Book of Mormon we gave him and would read it :) We kept walking and contacted a family of all daughters. There are like 7 of them! We didn't have time to share anything with them, but we have the plan to visit them this coming week. Then we kept walking.... We walked until it was 1:30 and we still hadn't gotten to Benito Juarez!  Whoever told us it was only 30 minutes walking distance is a liar !! haha ;)  And we didn't have water so we needed to take a taxi. This was such a great contacting experience because the driver saw us an hour before and asked why we WALKED there. So I made my first taxi contact!! :) We also visited Silvia for the comida and went home to rest and finish our studies. Then for the rest of the day we helped Silvia move to a house down the street. 

On Thursday we had divisions so we had to go to Bahias. While we were there our district got together so we could practice a song for a meeting on Saturday with Elder Pieper from the Seventy! Hermana Madsen had asked me to put something together so we decided to have the district sing “I Know That My Redeemer Lives”. We got to practicing and then we got to arguing because some people couldn't feel the spirit from our singing. Then some of the missionaries wanted to take people out of the choir….then they wanted to put people in who weren't ever going to practice with us….then they kept telling me to just sing a solo because some people were sick, but some of these ‘sick’ people still wanted to sing...and I was like, “Gah”!!  We ended up putting together a duet--Elder Poole and me because we have the strongest voices....It's all good. After the practice we started divisions. I was with Hermana Morgan and we went to the comida with Hermana Rosario. Then we gave her a surprise by setting up with her a visit with some members who used to live in her area. She was so glad to see them. We also visited the Hermana who feeds us on Mondays, Elia. Then we ended the day with Mary Asucena.  Later that night I had an accident... I totally fell when I was washing my feet!! I wanted to do some exercise before bed, but my feet were dirty, so I went to the sink to wash them. I finished washing one but when I put it down to put the other foot up, I started to fall a little…and I tried to catch my balance but went right to wet ground and I smacked right on my tailbone/backside and my arm! It was so funny!!! I laughed for an hour! Of course, that night I couldn't sleep because the fall made my body tense and my companion had nightmares…whoops!

Friday, I was so sore!! We dropped off Hermana Morgan in Bahias and went straight to the comida with Mary Asucena. We went and tried to find people to visit and teach, but no one was home. This is when the mission is so hard, when people aren’t home, which happens a lot here! So that night we finished with a message with the Relief Society during one of their activities.

On Saturday we had to wake up at 5:00am to be in Bahias by 8 for the meeting with Elder Peiper! I was so excited for this meeting! Now this meeting was awesome! I learned so much on how I work with the investigators more and I could feel the spirit really strong. Elder Poole and I sang really well :) That night we had an activity that we planned. We watched The Testaments and we had an awesome turnout of investigators and members, and food! :)

On Sunday the day was pretty good too:) I got to give a talk about the work of the members. It turned out really well and the people loved it. President Madsen also came and gave a really powerful talk and shared the Area Plan for Mexico this year! We also had a good lesson with Jose, one of our old investigators and Hermano Irvin joined us for that. Then we went out to Benito Juarez with a group of members so we could get to know the inactive members who live there. It was so much fun. But we also learned that Hermano Irvin will be released as ward mission leader... And Pancho is coming.... I am really scared where this is going... I'm worried that he will be another Hermano Pino, very combative.... But we shall see.....

But that was my week. I hope you enjoyed it. Keep reading. I love you guys so much!

Hermana Walker