Yu Hi Ruh

Baptism! Woo! This week, I baptized a young woman named Yajaira. She is 16 years old, and we found her one day in a store. She progressed so fast, and with flying colors was ready for baptism last week! We had a small simple service, but the spirit was there, even though the water was REALLY cold. My companion who barely speaks Spanish got to confirm her. It was a cool experience. Something else cool is that we had 8 investigators come to church this week, which is now my mission record. The record in our zone is 12, so I guess next week I'll get 13. We also have 9 investigators on point to be baptized, and at least 7 of them will hit the sacred waters this next month! We just kind of bundled em all up and they'll all be recieving a special covenant with God in August. It is so amazing to be a part of God's work!

It is still raining here. A lot. We have just given up on trying to stay warm cause it really just... doesn't work. But it is all good cause it adds a little flare to the mission and it makes it feel even more satisfying when we have success. 

This week, something very spiritual happened to us. We had over 6 different people on different occasions tell us we had wings, and one person asked how we were shining so bright and lighting up her porch. Another woman told us she had never had such angelic beings enter her house before. Definitely wasn't us! 

And, this last week, McCall got her mission call! She is going to the Ventura mission in California! I am so proud of her! 

Spiritual thought:

"For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace" 

-1 Corinthians 14:33

If there is confusion in your life, then look to the author. 

Other cool things:

1. Saw a Ducati

2. I have taken over 135 buses since the beginning of this month

3. Had an early morning surprise conference with my President and he bought us Krispy Kreme doughnuts (dang, those are good.)

Photos: 

1. Yajaira!

2. More cool grafiti wall art

3. Me with Sofie, a wiener dog that likes me a lot. Oh, and my comp too

Double -fast 7-18-17

Muy buenas tardes, mis queridos hermanos y hermanas. Saludos. Espero que estén bien, temporalmente y espiritualmente. Si no estan bien, hagan lo que necesitan hacer para arreglar su vida y confiar en nuestro Señor Jesucristo. Se que esta iglesia fue restaurado por Jose Smith, y que la mision es la obra del Señor.

My Spanish has been almost perfected this transfer. With my companion struggling to learn the Spanish himself. I find myself with the responsibilty to convey the eternal message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all people within my ENORMOUS area. So I, for necesity, have bettered my Spanish. And I thought my Spanish was already pretty good. I am still learning and I still have a super gringo accent, but that's okay. 

This week was a rollercoaster for sure! Monday and Tuesday were like a slap in the face from Satan. Investigators turned us down, contacts didn't work out, and we weren't teaching very well. My companion and I turned to the fast to ask for special blessings. In the middle of our fast on Wednesday, our District Leader asked us if we would be willing to fast the next day, Thursday. I said yes. It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Double fasting is something I do not recommend. I was dying haha. And nothing happened on Thursday! But my companion and I decided to turn to mighty and humble prayer. And nothing happened on Friday either! 

And then it was Saturday. And nothing happened. 

But the Lord is faithful. 

Sunday we found over 8 new investigators who are ready to be baptized. Our Saturdays are booked full, because we will be baptizing this week, and every week in August, and I am assuming over 10 people will be baptized in this month. We flew from pueblo to pueblo, finding every person we looked for. Every person we taught was impressed, one lady to the point of speechlessness at our message. The Spirit took over and gave us an endless amount of blessings. I haven't felt the Spirit so strong ever. In my entire life. 

Chinampas is going strong, and I guarantee that it is NOT because of me. The Lord moves this work. 

We also had an amazing Zone Conference this week which boosted our motivation and helped us change for the better. My Mission President is so great. 

Remember the Lord, and remember that he can do all things! Que les vaya bien! 

Other cool things:

1. Saw a Ducati. dang. 

2. uhh. I had more, but I forgot. 

This is Tara... we finally got our first snail mail that was sent IN DECEMBER while he was at the MTC! 🤗

7-10-17 Rain Rain Go Away

ITs the rain season. And in Chinampas, it pours. POURS. My rain jacket gets so soaked 

that it seeps through and gets me wet. The rain broke my comps umbrella, and the only thing that we have found to keep us dry is trash bags. The sewers overflood and yesterday the microbus we took drove through over a foot of water on the road. its nuts. Not to mention teaching some investigators on a mountain when LIGHTNING STRIKES THEIR TELEPHONE POLE AND FRIES THE WHOLE HOUSE. I love this place. But now I am reallyscared of lightning. Thank goodness Im a missionary.

It was a weird week here, cause we had zero people come to church, and my comp said that hasnt happened in like a year! I hope im not killing the area haha. No, its actually going really well over here. I cant believe how many people there are to teach. Without doing anything, we have people talk to us EVERY day. I mean, 2 tall, blonde, white missionaries walking in the street? Bingo. And, we just randomly get messages from people who want us to visit them haha! 

This week my companion conviently lost our cell phone. So that set us back a bit when we lost everything haha. But we are on our way to recovering the lost time and everything. 

Also, this week I went and had companion exchanges with the elders from Azteca, and it was a cool experience cause they have a gigantic, USA level soccer stadium and its huge. 

I also found out that I have this super dope embarcadero in my area, and its kinda like the cool canal in Italy where you get on the little boats and float down the middle of Italy, but its here in mexico and they sell SO Much mayan and aztec and traditional stuff there. So that was cool. 

Overall, I still like chinampas. Even though it scares the crap out of me some times. 

Spiritual thought:

Alma 37. I cant believe how kindly and lovingly Alma talks to his son Helaman. Also, Alma 42, at the end. Its so powerful. 

I hope youre all okay, and that you partied it up for Merica on the 4th! We were going to but no one sells american flags here. Weird right?

7-3-17 baptismz

This week. Wow. I imagine Chinampas like a wild horse. And Im sitting on the horse. And I dropped the reins on accident. And now its trying to buck me off. And my comp is in the same situation, with a Spanish horse. Chinampas.

Like my example shows, this week was nuts. I cant get control of this area haha. Its a great area, and teh blessing is, is that even when I cant control it, the Lord stills works on his children, and everyone we meet, even if its 2 hours late, is ready to listen and be baptized. Speaking of Baptism, I had my first Baptism in Chinampas this saturday! His name is Isaac, and I didnt baptize him, but I confirmed him. In Spanish. That was hard. He is a great little kid and has an inspiring determination to be a missionary. Its moments like that when Im so proud to be a missionary. 

We have SO many people who are ready and waiting to be baptized, that we cant even visit them all. I spend about a third of my day on public transportation cause everyone lives out in the middle of nowhere. A new family of (no joke) 22 that I found lives ON TOP OF A MOUNTAIN. It takes us about 40 minutes to hike up there, but Im thinking that eventually we will baptize every single person in that family. The work here is so strong. I love it. 

This week it rained. hard. The roads overflooded and we ran through over a foot of water to get home! I actually had fungus growing on my pants from where the water got them wet. I dont want to know what was in that water. Along the lines of water, we got hot water! Woo!

On wednesday, we were in a lesson with an investigator when someone got robbed RIGHT in front of his house at gunpoint, and he just got up and ran out of the house (we were facing away from the window, so he saw what happened, we didnt) and didnt come back for like 45 minutes. we just sat in his house. Wierdest lesson ever haha. 

I like the area, I like the people, and I like the Lord. 

Spiritual Thought: I love Amulek. Alma 34. 

Other cool things:

1. uh....

2. It was Elder Humphreys Birthday!