Week 51 January 12, 2014

Monday we got permission to go to Teotihuacan (the pyramids) with Hermanas Taylor and Luque. It was freezing!!! Well,...freezing for Mexico City I guess. We were able to find a guide who was a member and he gave us a tour Book of Mormon style. It was actually really amazing to understand that Christ had walked where we were walking. We climbed all 3 pyramids. The main pyramid, the Sun Pyramid, is the biggest of all three. On the top and directly in the middle they say that if you stand there and concentrate really hard, your "soul will be re energized". There are quite a few true believers of the myth...people from all over the world stand there and meditate..sometimes even doing yoga. It's actually pretty entertaining.

I couldn't leave without giving it a try! So, my soul is officially rejuvenated ;) 

Here are more pics of the pyramids:

We headed home in a bus and got home just in time for our zone meeting. We had an ugliest skirt competition for the Hermanas and an ugliest tie competition for the Elders. It was pretty fun.

Who wins?

Tuesday: Happy Día de los Reyes Magos! Here in Mexico they celebrate another day similar to Christmas but a tad different. Not only do they ask Santa for gifts on Christmas but they also ask the 3 kings (from the Bible) for gifts. So, in the middle of the night, the 3 kinds come and leave presents for all of the children. And they do a better job than Santa! Where were the Kings when I was a kid?! All day the streets were filled with kids with their new bikes, soccer balls, dolls, etc. They also have the tradition to eat "Roska" and to invite friends and family over. A roska is a type of bread that they eat exclusively on "Día de Los Reyes Magos". It looks like a giant oval doughnut decorated with little gummy-like strips of candy. They bake little plastic baby figurines inside which is part of another tradition. When cutting the roska, if your slice has a baby in it you have to make tamales on the 2nd of February. We got invited to 3 different roskas. In the first two I didn't get a baby but on the last one I did. At the time I didn't know it meant that I had to make tamales on the 2nd so I was super happy to have gotten the baby. Then they told me what it meant...I don't know how to make a good tamale yet!

Culture note: Electricity. You don't know power lines until you've visited Mexico City. Here they string the power lines like in the states, from one telephone pole to another, but rather than having a few wires, there are at least 30 running in every direction. If you need some extra electricity, well, you just tap into one of the 50 wires outside your house. It isn't uncommon to see live electric wires on the street or hanging down in your path. There are stories of people walking through puddles on rainy days and getting electrocuted... And do they fix it? No!! They leave it there for up months or even years! Watch your step!

Wednesday we were knocking doors and we found a family of members who had just moved in from another part of Mexico...and they have a daughter that isn't baptized yet. What are the chances of finding them the day they moved in?!

As a missionary it is amazing to see how protected I am. Almost every person I have met here has been assaulted multiple times. Whether it be on the street, in a convi, or on a micro. It has happened many times to them. There are full grown men that get robbed and assaulted in the middle of the day! And me?! I'm a white, tall, blond, blue-eyed, American for crying out loud! Every time I tell anyone that I've never been assaulted they can't believe it. We are told that we're invisible to them...that they don't even realize that we're there. There are stories of missionaries on convis, robbers get on, and rob everyone there except the missionaries...invisible. God really does protect us here.

These past few weeks I've really grown to see some of our converts really progress. There is nothing better than watching them learn. And they have such a desire to progress! We've been focusing a lot on preparing them to enter the temple someday and having that be their goal and they love it. I can't quite explain the happiness you feel to help them truly progress in the gospel. I'm sure going to miss this area when I leave! I've seen so many miracles here! Success really does come with hard work and obedience. It all depends on how much you really want it!

Here are some pics from the bus ride to the pyramids:

These photos are not edited. They must have added a new coat of paint for Christmas??