Ok this week was
probably the most exciting weeks of my life I don’t even know where to start. I guess just at the beginning of the week. On Tuesday there was so much rain it felt like
a monsoon. The raindrops were huge. There was so much wind it looked like
the rain was falling horizontal! We got
so wet but it was so much fun. Everyone
was inside and all the cars were off the street so we were running around in
the rain.
Then to make things
even crazier it was holy week this week in México. I have never seen anything like that in my
life. One day there were these men who dressed like they were in the kkk and
started hitting themselves and each other with sticks in this little circle of
salt. They believed they were all
sinners. Then the next day they reenacted Jesus on the cross. They had a man tied up on a cross and paraded
him through the streets. Then one night
there were church bells and gun shots going off all night long. Here in México there are shrines to the Virgin
Mary on every street corner. During holy
week there were giant groups of people all around the shrines.
Then on Easter they
don’t even eat candy. So we decided to
make little presents for some of the people in the ward. People who have helped us a lot like the bishop, ward
mission leader. Then the lady who lives
underneath our apartment was really sick so we gave her one too. It was funny
though because all the families thought that
it was so funny that we were giving them candy on Easter. One family even took a picture and put it on
Facebook as their first American Easter. It was so funny!
On actual Easter we
ate dinner with the second counselor and his family. Easter dinner was interesting. I ate horsemeat and chicharones which are
fried pig skin. We had tortillas but
they are so different here because they are made out of corn. We
also had some rice and beans. It
was quite the classical Mexican meal. It
was so funny though because my companion is terrified of dolls and at the
second counselor’s house there are these giant dolls as big as me. So the second counselor’s daughter who is 5 and
I ran around the house with the giant creepy dolls chasing my companion.
Ok next exciting
thing is there was a huge earthquake all over México City this week. It was a 7.2 and it was the scariest/ coolest
thing that has ever happened. My
companion and I were doing companionship study and then all of a sudden the
ground starts to shake a little bit. We
just thought it is our neighbor again because his music is always so loud in
the morning that it shakes the ground. Then
we could feel the ground clearly moving and our front door fling open even
though it was locked. The floor was
moving so much. So we ran to the window to
look outside and you could see all the telephone wires shaking up and down. Then I saw the coolest thing of my life it was
like the street was water and you could see a huge wave going across the
street. That’s when we decided we should
probably get outside because the buildings in México are made super badly and
we are on the 5th floor. So my companion
told me to grab my nametag and we ran down the stairs. They were shaking so much we kept falling
over and there were tons of people in the staircase trying to get out of the
building. We finally made it to the
street and it was actually pretty good because a lot of our investigators were
outside. We got to talk to them for a
while but when we finally decided it was safe to go back. However, my companion realized she hadn’t
gotten the keys. She remembered my nametag
but not the keys. So we spent the next
half hour breaking into our apartment. Eventually my companion ripped off the doorknob
and kicked open the door. It was so funny though because the next day one of
the ward members who lives under us came up and told us that they have an extra
key. I guess the elders once got locked
out and had to break the whole doorknob.
We were just like those silly elders. It was super funny though.
Oh and I forgot that
the day before Easter everyone was getting each other wet and throwing water on
each other because it was super hot that day.
All of a sudden we turn a corner and there was a group of kids that are
super wet and they point at us and yell in Spanish get them. So this giant mob of kids start chasing us
with water buckets and we were running because we didn’t want to get our
dresses wet. By the end we got soaking
wet though and it felt super good because it was in the 90s that day. I had
been sweating pretty much all day in the sun.. so it wasn’t so bad.
One day someone told
us to give him our backpacks trying to rob us.
My companion just said no and they walked away. My companion said you just have to know when they
are dangerous. If they are, just give
them your stuff. If not, just say no. A
lot of the time when you say no they leave you alone.
Ok now that all the
exciting stuff is out of the way, I will talk about the spiritual things. So we have an investigator Marcos who was
super ready for baptism. He had his
interview and it was going to be perfect because he was going to have an Easter
baptism. It was going to be the best Easter
ever. My companion and I fasted that it
would all work out and we would have an Easter baptism. It was the longest fast of my life and I was
like this has to happen it is just too perfect.
Then the day of the baptism he tells us he has to work and it all fell
apart and I was super depressed. I couldn’t
figure out why it wouldn’t happen when we did everything right. What I learned today is everything happens in the
Lord’s time. He always has a plan because now Marco’s friend
Mario wants to be baptized next Sunday with Marcos. He says he is so much more motivated not to
smoke so that he can be baptized with his best friend. Also Easter Sunday was pretty great because a
family came to church and the first thing the mom said to us was she wants to
be baptized. Her brother is a member and
has been talking to her about the church and it just feels so right. So we just have to teach her and her family 3
more lessons. If they come to church 2
more times, their whole family can be baptized. It was also amazing because we had 4 other
investigators at church on Sunday. We
were blessed even though we didn’t have a baptism. It was just amazing to have so many
investigators there at church with us.
Oh and these week was
my two month I cant believe I have already been on my mission for 2 months! Oh also the mission leader has a 17 year old
son. We started teaching his girlfriend. Every time we go over to teach I can’t help
but laugh because he is the Mexican version of Hal. Every time we ask him to give a testimony of
the Book of Mormon or something it makes me laugh because he gives such Hal
answers. If everything goes well Stephanie should be baptized
in two weeks. I’m super excited for her because
she has become one of my favorite people here on my mission. She is just so funny and I can’t even explain
how much I hope she gets baptized. I
know that Heavenly Father works miracles.
We have investigators who when I first met I would never think they
would even want to listen to the gospel.
You just never know who the Lord has prepared to hear the message.
If you guys would pray
for Mario that he can stop smoking, Marcos that he will be baptized, Stephanie
that everything with go well and for the family Ortenga, that would be amazing.
I know that every prayer helps. I will tell them that my family is praying
for them. Mario especially needs a lot of help to stop smoking if he wants to
be able to be baptized this Sunday. In
this mission you have to go 2 weeks without breaking the word of wisdom before
you can be baptized.
Oh one more spiritual
experience. My backpack was on the
ground and then all of a sudden I just got a feeling to pick it up and put it
on my back for no apparent reason. Then
2 minutes later a man ran by and grabbed the purse of the lady standing
next to me. She started chasing him but he was too fast. I felt
really bad for her and we tried to make her feel better but I was just so glad
he didn’t take my backpack. I had my ID,
passport and all my money for the month in my backpack to bring home from the
mission office.
Anyway I hope you
guys have a great week and I am so excited for Hal to go on his mission. Especially because he goes straight to Peru. Good luck giving away your Book of Mormon but
I know that you will find someone. I
will be praying for you anyway! Always follow the spirit and everything will go
just fine that’s what I am learning here on my mission anyway :)
Oh wait one more
thing they are making my companion and I sing in church! I sing a verse in Spanish
all alone. Then she sings in English
all alone. Then we sing a verse
together in Spanish. I am freaking out a
little because no one knows how to play piano so it is a capella. The only good thing that I kind of love about
church here is that Mexicans usually sing really really loudly in church. I have never heard people sing so loud. It is also so out of tune and so bad. It is like those kids during the primary
programs who are just yelling the words the whole time. So I don’t think their expectations will be
too highJ
Have a great week :)
Love Hermana Jones
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