"So we ate way delicious food on New Years day and a TON of it too!"

January 5, 2015

Hola!

Hey thanks for updating the blog!! And for doing all this BYU stuff! I really appreciate it!

OK so this week was great. Kind of. Well so New Years we didn't really sleep at all because our neighbors are party animals and were blasting loud music all night and they were burning this viejo [old man] which is like a tradition that they do here where they make this life-size stuffed old man and fill it with fireworks and sit him on a chair, and then at midnight, they burn him. And its SOO LOUD!  I'll send a pic of it. We took a video too but I don't know if it will go through. It represents like the past year dying or something, but I think it's just a fun thing they invented to keep the missionaries from sleeping...haha

So then we ate way delicious food on New Years day and a TON of it too! Mexicans are so generous and just give us so much food. Our fridge has never been so full. But the best part of the week was not until the end. In fact, we really had like a horrible week in the way of numbers. or so we thought! It seemed like every day we were just walking and walking and not teaching anyone! But on Saturday I think it was, we both got back from divisions and just decided to really focus and stop speaking English, because we had a real problem with that 'cause we always just spoke in English and joked around and stuff, but we decided to just cut it out and speak only Spanish. So we were doing that, and we started fasting on Saturday for the Lord to bless us with at least the investigators who we are teaching at church, because that's been a real problem too. But guess how many investigators showed up at church... 10.

 I have never had TEN investigators in church in one day before, That's insane!!!!!!! And they were all like families!!!!! Manuel (our recent convert) brought his daughter and his son in law and the grandkids who have never let us teach them before and were never interested but they just decided to come to church one day to check it out and they loved it!!!!!!!!! Also this random couple who we met literally the day before came with one of their neighbors! Literally, we saw them in the street and we were like "hey wanna come to church tomorrow?" and they were like "yeah!" and we picked them up and they totally came! And I'm not 100% sure that they were not drinking a very short time before, but they said they loved church and they even told us that they want to get married there and get baptized and everything!!! So that was way cool. Also, our coolest investigator right now is Rosi, and she's the mom of a recent convert of the elders, named Roger. And she's WAY COOL!! The first time we met her she was like "my son has changed so much, before he was so rude and he drank and had problems with his wife but then they met the elders and got married and baptized and now he knows God and I want to do all that too so I can set an example for my other kids!" And we asked her to get baptized and she was like "I will do absolutely whatever I need to to feel clean before God!"  We're hoping for her baptism the 17th of January.. Pray for her!!! Also, pray for her grandkids (Monserrat and Antonio) and Charlie Chan, and Manuel's family (Luis, Fatima, Briget, and Kenneth) and Wendy and Manuel (yes another one..) and Carla. thank you:)

Well I have to go now but I love you all dearly and hope you are all well!!

HS

"I just want to be a missionary forever!"

December 29, 2014

Sorry I think today is going to be a short boring email  'cause I had to do a bunch of BYU stuff but I'll send pictures!

I don't know who gave us that gingerbread house, but that was the cutest gift idea ever!!!!!!!!!!! We made it with the bishops kids and some other kids in the ward. This is Christmas eve when we ate with the bishop and our missionary leader and their families and some other people. But it was soo fun making the gingerbread houses with the kids!!!!!

Cool that I'm a missionary and I totally was online for almost an hour today thinking about college stuff... Ugh I hate it! I just want to be a missionary forever! But I guess I do kinda need to go to college and have a life so whatever. 

Haha anyways to answer your questions and everything, after we finished Skyping, I called Grandpa and I could see and hear them and they could see me but they couldn't hear me! So we fiddled with that for a while and Emmanuel got super cool and was communicating with Grandpa and telling him what to do to get the speakers to work but writing notes and holding them up to the camera. His English was a lot better than I thought! Anyways in the end Darby and I ended up signing to each other to communicate (I didn't know she was learning sign language!) and I forgot almost everything that I knew, but we got the message through. And then we gave up and I just told them to talk to me and I would listen. But then it was really late and we had to go home, and that was our whole day! 

We ate WAY good for Christmas and Christmas eve. There's this thing called fruit cocktail that everyone makes here for Christmas (tradition) and it's really good. Our stake mission leader Moises (the one who I was telling you about who wants the beef jerky) actually invited us to his house for dinner even though he's not even in our ward... but he totally loves us so it's cool!

 I found these cute Missionary stockings at Deseret Industry [Camille speaking here]

Fun stockings!!!!!!! We absolutely LOVED them!

Opening presents!!

Wow Christmas sounds way fun!!!!!!!! I'm so happy you guys had a good time! I love looking at pictures of everyone! Miranda is so pretty and Em is soo cute! 

Color of my room.. hmm i don't know. surprise me. Something cute and creative. I trust Mimi. Haha I was kinda half kidding about the Mexican thing but if you can make it look bedroom appropriate that'd be cool! There's some cute Mexican looking fabrics and patterns and stuff so I trust that Mimi can do really great things with that! But honestly I'm not going to be there for that long before going to college right? So don't break your backs doing some great extravagant thing, I don't want you guys to spend a ton of money or anything. but the only thing I do seriously request is if there is a way to get the hooks on the wall so I can hang up my hammock, that would be awesome!!!!!!! 

Wow that would be so exciting to see Hailey in April! I miss her a ton!

Another thing, I'm inviting HW to come visit us in Arizona sometime for fall break or something next year. Hope that's cool.. 

Also, are you guys coming here to pick me up in April? When are we having family vacation here in Merida? I want you guys to meet all my friends here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm working on the application thing. let me know if there's something I need to do!!!! Also, could somebody look into how I could maybe get a job in the MTC as a teacher or something?

I love you all, Christmas went great, and the church is true!!!!!

HS

"I think I have sung every single Christmas song in the Spanish hymnbook close to 10 times so far."

December 23, 2014

SO MUCH HAPPENED THIS WEEK I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!

I think I have sung every single Christmas song in the Spanish hymnbook close to 10 times so far.

We did an activity like 4 times where we go to these things called tianguis which are outdoor vendors and it's just people who sell random stuff and they have them a couple times every week. SO we went and sang and showed videos and contacted people. first we did it in the Elders area, and then our area, and then the other Elders area, and we got a ton of references! It was so cool to be sharing the Christmas spirit to the Mexican people trying to sell clothes and watches and toys and food to people on the street.

Christmas caroling activity! We did this 4 times this week and it was so fun! We're wearing hats not cause it's cold but because the ward made us hats. They're so cool!!

ALSO we had a baptism! We were so excited! E is wayy cool and it was kinda sad 'cause nobody in his family came to see him get baptized and his ex girlfriend kept calling him and bugging him, telling him not to get baptized, up until the very last minute, but he stayed strong and was like "I don't care I know this is true and I'm doing the right thing!" And the ward totally took him in and made him feel good:) I think we're going to try to skype at his house on Thursday so maybe you guys can meet him! He seems all serious and tranquil at first but he's really so sassy and sarcastic and hilarious!

Emmanuel!!!!!!! Got baptized! He's sooo cool!!! But I don't know why he doesn't smile in pictures... Mexicans never smile..

Also we're losing our investigators...  nobody came to church and we're worried but whatever. It's been a crazy week and it'll get all better next week. We didn't even have time to do divisions at all this week!

 Talent show! The sister training leaders and zone leaders of zone brisas sang and it was fabulous. and kind of lame but way fun!

 Mission party lunch!  The whole mission gets together once a year for Christmas and it's a whole day thing and it's so fun!!!!!!!!

Pictures with the hats that the ward made us! Nightlife in the mish

AH Ok I have to go but we'll talk on Thursday! Remind me to tell you about Torta Dan and our game that HW and I invented and "PERDON!" and a bunch of funny stuff I have to tell you!

Ok bye talk to you Thursday!

Thanks so much love you all!

HS

Yep we're totally saving souls.

December 15, 2014

Aww cookie swap! I bet it was way fun. Skype? Not sure about all the details yet, but I assume it's about the same as last year. I know we get to call on the 25th, and I assume we just use a members computer to Skype and it will probably be between the hours of 11am and 9pm.... haha sorry I don't know who we'll be with that day yet! But I know I'll be with HW. I'm so excited for you guys to meet her!!!!

The district with this less active family that feeds us the best food ever. Hermana Yoni and her husband Emir. He doesn't smile.

Missionaries Christmas caroling in the park!

You know what President told us today over email? That the only reason we should be separated is when we get married! Haha he pretty much told us that if we keep having this much success in our area that he's not going to change us, He'll just keep us here in Chichen until the end of the mission!! Ahh we're way excited!! Seriously, Hermana Williams is so great and I know I'm so blessed to have her as a companion cause she works so hard and we push each other but we both know the limits and just think the same way and find a way to be laughing and having fun like every second of the day!

Yep we're totally saving souls. This week was a crazy week but ended way good! 

 We took Emmanuel to the temple Saturday, and I saw this lady from my first area! Barrio Tanlum!! 

So last Monday "Elder Schwab" a return missionary that served in Merida came and knocked on our door around 9 and gave us a giant box of chips and salsa (something that isn't very common to eat here in Mexico) and a bunch of cookies.  He served here about a year ago and came back to visit his mission and all of the houses that he lived in!! He's way cool and pretty much spent the week in Chichenitza playing video games with the members bur helped us out a ton and drove us around a little.  He's way cool.

SO the 12th of December is a holiday here. Its virgin day... :/  People here don't just put up Christmas lights, they put flowers and candles and blinking Christmas lights all over their virgin Maria or Guadalupe or whatever it is, and they have "novenas" which are where all the Catholic neighbors come over and sit in chairs facing the virgin and they sing and chant and pray to her for like an hour. 

ANYWHO so needless to say we didn't have much success that day.

So you remember that kid who I told you was GOLDEN that we met last Sunday? M's friend? So we taught him the restoration the other day and Elder Schwab and M accompanied us, and it went SO WELL! The Spirit was soo strong and he was asking inspired questions and he told us that he's really looking for the truth and he is reading and praying and really wanted to know how he could recognize the Spirit and everything. And he came to church on Sunday!! We were so excited and so sure that he loved it and was going to get baptized, but afterward he comes up to us to tell us that he loved the church service and everything that we were teaching him, but that he wanted to stay Catholic.. ..?? It was so lame!!! and THEN he stuck around after church with the P family ('cause he was going to go home with them) and took pictures with us!!! What is up with this kid?? That's like breaking up with someone and then taking pictures after! Elder Hainsworth told us that it's like keeping the dog in the house after it dies... We aren't really sure what happened, but we fully plan on seeing him again someday.

This is a picture of all the missionaries of Chichen with the family Palma Martinez. Kinda.. we're just missing a few. OK story, there's a kid in this picture who is our ex- investigator. You want to know what happened? It's that kid I told you about last week who was GOLDEN! and he DUMPED us after church!!! we cried

BUT cool story cause this guy H came to church and he told us he loved it and he is definitely getting baptized. He cried when we showed him the "He is the gift" video. he belongs to this alcoholics anonymous (however you spell that word) group and he's so cool.

I am really excited for Christmas!

Chichen itza is the greatest ward in all of Merida!!

If you want to know who to pray for, pray for Henry Mota, Charlie Chan, Emmanuel Moo, Mariela and Manuel Zavala, Landero, Hija and Juan Carlos to all get baptized and go to church, and Manuel and Miguel and Jasmin to stay active! 

Thanks love you all bye!

Sooo yeah the church is totally true:)

December 8, 2014

Yes Miguel is still feeling sad.. But at least he came to church yesterday and then came back for the devotional! He tells us it's cause he feels sick but I'm not sure... But on the bright news he is totally best friends with like everyone at church and he is like a professional mingle-er! And so is Jasmin! They love going to the classes and are making lots of friends!:) Its so great.

Pretty much all of the people who we visit are youth. Literally, we just noticed yesterday that almost all of our investigators are between the ages of 15 and 25... Our most potente investigator is named Emmanuel and he's super cool (20 years old...) and he's getting baptized on the 20th!!! Which is a way funny story cause at first we challenged him for the 27th of December but then we realized quickly that he was so prepared so we've been kinda trying to persuade him to get baptized a week earlier but he hasn't wanted to. But on Saturday he came to see this baptism with us (Another wards baptism) and afterward he tells us that it's cool if he gets baptized on the 20th. Haha I love teaching him 'cause he's so receptive and he's way funny too.

Yesterday was the day of changes and probably like the most successful day we've had in the whole transfer! So on Saturday, on our way to a lesson (we were bringing this 15 year old punk girl investigator of ours to a house of some really great members) this guy on the street calls out to us, and starts talking to us. He tells us he wants us to teach him our classes cause his New Year's goal is to be closer to God, and that he wants to come to church tomorrow. And actually even when people say that they usually don't ever come so we were a little surprised when he called us yesterday morning to tell us he was coming, and that we needed to wait for him!  He came late so church was already over but we were still there so we grabbed a member to accompany us and gave him a tour of the church! Within 5 minutes of being there, he's met a bunch of members, all 6 missionaries of the ward, and the bishop and his family. Then we're showing him around the church and he sees the picture of the first vision on the wall and stops and says, "Wow I really like this picture" so the member with us starts explaining what it is and everything and he says "I like it not necessarily because of what it is, but more how I feel when I look at it.." And while the member is kinda explaining the story, HW and I are looking at each other with jaws dropped and the elders are listening in equally shocked and super jealous I'm sure that we found this guy haha. So then we decide to take him into the chapel and teach him right then and there the restoration, and invite him to baptism and he says yes because he wants to be in the camino recto. Which would be like, the straight and narrow path that leads to heaven kind of thing. 

....

Whaaaaa?? This guy is soooo perfect!!!!! We're way stoked to be teaching him. His name is Charlie Chan.:)

Then later that day we go to the house of the Palma Martinez family cause M (the kid who teaches the gospel principles class and is way cool) invited his friend over to listen to us and he had told us beforehand that he wanted us to come teach him, but to take it slow cause he didn't want to pressure him or anything so we probably shouldn't invite to baptism the first visit. And we were like umm we have to.. its actually a rule of the mission to invite to baptism on the first lesson and if you don't, well that's what repentance is for. SO we're like... ummm we'll see. So we start in slow, but quickly realize that this kid is super prepared and so we show him that "He is the gift" video and get in to talking about baptism and we're like so how do you feel about all this up to now?  And he's like "you know, I think everyone deep down knows that this is true, and that it has been true all along, but people are just paying attention more to what the world says" and we're like..... do you want to get baptized? And he's like.... "Yeah I think so... I think that's what I lack at this point in my life.."  BAM two baptismal dates and golden investigators in one day. And then I wanted to punch M in the face for wanting us to go slow with him. But not really 'cause M is the coolest.

And then we watched the Christmas devo in English cause Elder Tobler is awesome and set it up in the family history center for all the gringo missionaries! And Elder Christofferson's talk was soo amazing. And so was Eyrings. Actually they all were. 

Soo yeah the church is totally true:)

In other news, the ward bullies me cause I don't iron my clothes.... I swear you don't need to cause its so humid here so as soon as you walk outside your clothes iron themselves!!!! But HW is like crazy about ironing stuff and always asks to planch [planchar = to iron ] my clothes every morning and every morning I tell her that she's crazy 'cause you don't need to. But yesterday she goes and tells the Palma Martinez family that I never planch anything and they all act like its a great sin or something.. I don't get it. 

In other other news, transfers came last night, and our prayers were answered!!!! The groundhog didn't see his shadow and there's 6 more weeks of winter!!! Yayyy too bad there's no such thing as winter here....!  Haha but yeah HW and I get 6 more weeks together here in Chichen!!! AND president gave us 2 less companionships of girls this time YAY so we're not going to constantly be on divisions!!

But the bad news is Elder Tobler is leaving the ward and he was totally planning a bunch of cool ward activities that we were going to do.. ET has been my zone leader for the majority of my mission because he was my zone leader in Ticul too then I followed him here. But it's cool because the new zone leader and elder in the ward is Elder Chappel, and I think Miranda told me that his family is in our stake or something cause she knows his sister! So that's cool.

UGHHH I don't have time to write now, but SO MUCH has happened this week!! I only just scratched the surface, I only wrote about Sunday!!!!!!

Well on Tuesday we got to do a session in the temple for the first time in more than a year, and got up at 3 in the morning to go, then had to give the capacitation in another zone for the zone conference, and then we went to this little town called Motul and I went to Kini which probably has a population of like 100 people... and then we did divisions again and then we had English classes that a bunch of people went to and then we ate this food called pibes which were sooo good and had another random capacitation and did an activity in the parque with a ton of missionaries where we sang Christmas carols to people and the assistants showed us how to contact an entire bus of people by singing Christmas carols. [note from the editor- yes this is a run on sentence but it gives you a more accurate representation of how she really writes!!! ] And a lot more but I have to go now so I'll write more next week!

Love you all bye!!!

HS