Baptism!

 Juanito!

Hermana Eva and Juanito's Baptism

HOLA!!!! Well we had a great week this week! It was a lot of work and a ton of stress, but it was soooo fun. Well 2 of our investigators were baptized this Saturday, which was really great -Hermana Eva and Juanito! We found them when we were knocking doors. She is a single mother with a ton of problems. They are awesome! We found them a little over two weeks ago. They were prepared by the Lord and had the drive and the desire to learn and progress. I loved watching them learn and being a part of the teaching. Hermano Juan is awesome! He is 13 years old and he kind of reminds me of Max and Jaxson, so we got along great! And he is a big pokemon fan which is also awesome! He loves to learn and asks a ton of questions from how do we obtain a celestial marriage to where can I find the poké-flute in red version? I did my best to answer all of them. Oh sorry about last week -about my odd tree comment. I attached the picture this time. My companion is a man. We had an awesome lesson with a man named Eren. He is in a wheel chair because he has only one leg. Also, he is bald. We taught him about the plan of salvation and when we hit the resurrection, I have never seen a man more happy in my life! First about his leg and then when he learned about how not a hair on his head would be lost, it was almost too much for him. The only problem is trying to find a way for him to get to church. Xalisco is not the most wheel chair accessible place. But God will prepare a way.   Well I love you all. I know this church is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I look forward to reading it every chance I get. 

The Random Tree

Hola!

Another week in the town of Xalisco! Well it started out pretty rough. Tuesday morning at about 4 am I woke up to the most horrible sound known to mankind! I was more scared than I have ever been in my life! I thought demons were screaming at me! But after a good 5 or 6 seconds of sheer terror, I realized it was my companion throwing up. He spent the entire night throwing up- I felt way bad. He called Hermana Saucedo and she told us to go get his head x-rayed (I don't know why either). One thing about Mexico that I love is that everyone automatically thinks the worst case scenario. When we went to the hospital, we were talking to a lady outside and she told my companion that he probably had a tumor. So he got his head x-rayed and like you can imagine, it showed literally nothing. But he was feeling better as the day went on. I will do all that I can to keep me from returning to a hospital here. There weren't enough beds so people were on the floor and there were a lot of bloody people. It was like a war hospital that you see in the movies. 

Hermana Mercedes sadly still is not baptized as fear is eating away at her faith, but not at mine! She will be baptized!!! We also have another family that is preparing for baptism. They accepted a date for the 28th, so we have got a lot of work to do. We did a lot of contacting this week but didn't find a lot of chosen ones, but no worries because we did find a family of a Mother, daughter, and granddaughter that have a lot of problems and a lot of challenges in life but I know the only true church can help them. 

We found an odd looking tree growing close to the side of the road. We have a lot of work to do this week! I love my companion. He is a man! We teach way good together. I love you all! I know the Church is true. I know the Book of Mormon is true and I love to testify of it.

 Yummy!

Cora!!!!!!

HOLAAAA!!!!!! Well our baptism had some problems this week, but no worries we will defeat satan once and for all! Hermana Mercedes will be baptized this week! Elder Esquivel and I get along great! This kid makes me laugh so much! And also we teach way good together. We were walking down the street the other day and I see in the distance a guy with a hat very familiar- a white BYU hat!!!!!! We get a little closer and this guy is white too, so I thought for sure it was a tourist from Utah! I, of course, ran to contact him but it turns out he has no idea what BYU even is. Oh ya, and he is gay. It was a pretty big let down! In church yesterday the meeting started and we had planned on having 16 investigators in the capilla and no one was there! Usually we pick our investigators up, with help from a member, but everyone insisted on coming on there own. But right before the sacrament, 2 familias that we invited showed up! I was soooo happy! They have a tooooon of problems but the only true Church will help them out. I had some armadillo tacos this week. They were real great! It's like pork but it's also like chicken??? We did a lot of finding this week and we have a ton of contacts. I have less than 50 pages left in Jesus the Christ and my mind is still blown away every time I open up that book. I officially am from Nayarit now! Everyone here has these bags from either the Cora or the Huichole Indian tribes and I got myself a sweet cora bag just the right size for my scriputres and everything. It's manly, not a purse! I will have no one thinking that I wear a purse. I love this place! I am way happy that Elder Brown visited! He is a man. 

It looks like a purse to me!

Elder Esquivel

New Cambios!

Well we got our calls for cambios last Monday night telling us that I am staying here and Elder Heath is going to Guadalajara. It was terrible for Elder Heath because when we returned to the house, we didn't have power so he had to pack in the dark. But I found birthday candles, so I guess he had a little light. So Tuesday morning Elder Heath left and then arrived Elder Esquivel! Mexicano!!! He is a man, and it was nice to have another Lamanite companion. The first lesson we had together was awesome and we instantly clicked. We teach great together. We still need to rely 100 percent on the spirit but it is nice to have unity in teaching. I know that we will see alot of milagros this cambio. This Saturday we have a baptism set for Hermana Merecedes. She is awesome and the spirit is always way strong in our lessons. We have a family that we are teaching that live high up in the mountains in a rancho. We set a date with a few of them and we are hoping that they are all going to be baptized!! There are like 7 people in that family!!! We were going to visit a member and we found her talking to her neighbor- a great opportunity for a investigator! We said hi and began to talk and then I don't know what my companion was thinking, but he asked if she was pregnant....she wasn't! He was soooo embarrassed and I couldn't get the stupid smile off my face, but it was too funny! The truth is, she really did look pregnant but I personally try to avoid situations like that! We got a reference from a hermana in the ward for one of her friends. She has a lot of problems with her husband and we came to have the gospel fix everything. Her husband has a huuuuuge zit like thing on his shoulder like bigger than a golf ball! Mom you would go crazy! I couldn't stop staring at it and wondering what it was. But we had a great lesson and she wants more that anything to have the gospel in her life. I am loving the mission. THis cambio is going to be awesome!

Elder Gutierez!!!!

HOOOOOOOOLLLAAA!!!! Well this week was really great! We lucked out a ton! Presidente made a new district (las cambio)- that is 5 missionaries that go from zone to zone every week and stay with a companionship for the whole week and help them improve their teaching skills and everything. We had Elder Gutierez come and stay. Let me give you his stats: district leader, zone leader, AP for 6 months, and the mission's top baptizer. He is a man! Every word he speaks in a lesson is with power. He helped us a ton improve our teachings. He is from Ecuador and this was his last week of his mission and he spent it with us. As I am writing this, he is on an airplane or in an airport going home. Some things that he taught us: We need to challenge the investigator for baptism before we say the opening prayer. If they are an escogido( it means chosen one but I like the word in spanish better) they will accept.  It has really helped our first lessons a lot because people know why we are here. We learned sooooo much. Probably the next time I see Elder Gutierez will be in general conference, when he is in the quroum of the 12. We ate hamburgers the last night he was here. They were pretty good. I can't imagine it being better than one from America, but still. It was sad when he left. I won't forget the words he said, "mision completo." He knew he had served his mission as hard as he could. I want to end my mission with that same feeling but I have a looooong time before that so I want to end everyday with that feeling of doing everything that I possibly could of that day. We had 10 investigators in church yesterday. That is the most I have ever had in my mission. It was crazy! And waaaay stressful,  but it went great. I don't know if we are going to have a baptism this week but for sure next week. My testimony has grown a lot this week and I know I have a lot more learning and growing to do. I love you all!