Week 72 April 27, 2015

Leadership meeting

Tuesday morning Hermana Taylor and I took a taxi to Oriental to train while we were there. It's a lot of fun being with the assistants and the President and his wife. Taylor and I really seem to work well together which makes everything easy and fun! Later in the day we started divisions with Hermana Bennett and Hermana Tirado. I went to Juan Escutia with Hermana Bennett and Tirado headed to Planco with Taylor. I was SO impressed by Bennett! We were companions almost a year ago and she has come so far! During divisions with her we tried contacting an old lady walking her GIANT pitbull. As she went to shake the lady's hand the dog went from looking like the sweetest dog to the most blood thirsty ferocious dog ever. That dog just about took Bennett´s arm off! Luckily that old lady had a good hold in its leash...or Bennett would've been a gonner! The mission is such a blast! I learned a lot by being with her and it was great to see how the mission helps us progress.

Parasite Pills (2 boxes each) We are planning on getting rid of that BEFORE getting home...you're welcome family!

Thursday I got approached by a tattooed man who handed me a box. It made me a little nervous to be honest...he informed me that his aunt had given him a bunch of pies to sell. I told him I wasn't interested but he wouldn't let me hand it back to him. So, I told him I had a better idea. We had just left Adolofo's house which was just down the street. I told him to knock on his door and to tell Adolfo that the tall white girl had sent him to buy a pie. He finally agreed and I was able to hand him back the pie. Later, we went back to Adolofo's house...and there it was..a pineapple pie! I thought it was hilarious! Unfortunately it didn't taste very good... but it sure was funny!

We also talked to Rosa...(our investigator) and she brought with her her "pareja" (partner). They had broken up but now they're back together. He told us that he wanted to be with her for forever. That's great! All we had to do was take them to get married! But...there was a problem...she is married to someone else ( 8 years ago) and needs to get divorced first. Ok...so we'll talk to a lawyer and get her divorced! Turns out that that wasn't the only problem...HE was married to someone else too... And here in Mexico, getting a divorce is NOT easy...especially for a guy. So, we told them the truth..neither of them could get baptized... He started crying...he felt really bad that he was the reason that she couldn't get baptized. She started to talk and said that there was nothing she wanted more in the world than to get baptized. She couldn't even finish the sentence without bursting into tears. It was REALLY sad. I've never seen someone so genuinely heart-broken for not being able to get baptized. The only thing we could tell them to do was to keep reading praying, and coming to church. They would have to really trust in God for this one. And...they came to church together on Sunday! One day they'll get baptized and be sealed in the temple!

Training districts with the assistants

Friday we had a leadership meeting with the President, his wife, the assistants, and the zone leaders. Taylor and I had to give the training on "Revelation through the Book of Mormon". We talked a lot about the importance of the Book of Mormon in our lives and especially in the lives of others we teach here in Mexico. We also talked about the revelation we can receive by reading and studying the scriptures. We talked about Joseph Smith and how by reading a single verse in Santiago (James 1:5) the entire church was restored. And because he decided to study the scriptures and act on what he learned, each and every one of us missionaries have the opportunity to be here and change lives! That's pretty amazing! Can't you see the potential we have as people to receive revelation through the scriptures! It's huge!

Pizza after the meeting

Saturday we headed to the stake center for a stake activity that they'd been planning for the past month. They invited all the Young Men and the Young Women from the stake to have a "day in the mission". The idea was for them to live a day as if they were really a missionary and to see what we do each and every day. So, each kid was assigned to a missionary and they spent the next 12 hours with that missionary in their area. I was assigned a 17 year old and a 25 year old; both were planning on serving missions in the future. Taylor was also assigned someone and after studying with them, we headed to our areas.

Our companions for the day

They taught with us, contacted, ate, walked...they were able to see first hand what it was like to serve a mission. It was awesome to listen to them teach and watch as they talked to people. I think a lot of them were really surprised by what we go through...the insults, the whistles, the doors slammed in our faces, the huge amount of food they "force"us to eat, etc. I think they left with a new appreciation for missionary work and through the spiritual experience we had together, with a stronger desire to prepare to be missionaries someday. At about 7:00 PM we all headed back to the stake center with our "companions" and had a big testimony meeting. It was amazing to see those kids bear their testimonies...the spirit was really strong. A lot of them talked about having thought about serving missions before but that after having spent a day as a missionary, they were more than 100% sure that they would do it. What an amazing opportunity it was to help those kids have that desire. It was awesome!

There was a literal race on Sunday! I almost started tearing up when I saw the runners because it made me think of my speedy mom. (She would have kicked their butts!!)

That's about all for this week! I'm about to start my 13th and final "cambia" here in the mission...I'm going to give it my all! I love you all and appreciate everything you do for me! I feel your prayers!

Love,
Hermana Ingram