It's been a pretty crazy, but very wonderful week. We've planned for a lot of lessons, but a lot of them have fallen through for one reason or another, but we've been blessed with many other things to be involved in. It has been a week full of laughter and joy and even though we aren't seeing the success we would want, I know the Lord is blessing us to be able to learn and enjoy the time we have here together. We see miracles every single day and for that, I am humbly grateful. I love Tempe and I love serving here. These last 5 months have been wonderful. There are only about 2 and a half more weeks in the transfer and I have no idea what's going to happen, but I'm going to enjoy the time that I know I have here while I can.
Patricio is doing awesome! This week he's been having a lot of opposition and he's been fighting it like a champion. He realizes that something is trying to keep him from this amazing step he's about to make to baptism and he knows that he's stronger than any opposition, so he's pushing through. He just has this light about him every time we see him and he calls us his "angels". He also came to church this week and everything he heard really hit him and gave him that extra strength he needs to make it through. We are so grateful for his example of courage and determination to do what is right.
This week we stopped by a former investigator named Socorro. She was talking to missionaries for a long time, but her husband (boyfriend) is having a hard time accepting the gospel, and they aren't married and he doesn't want to get married right now. While we were visiting with her we told her we didn't know a lot of people around her house and so she said "Let's go meet some people". So she basically took us out around her neighborhood to OYM and talk to people about the gospel. Crazy! But it was even more incredible! While on our walk she told us that she has been reading the Book of Mormon and that she believes it to be true. Then we met a girl that she knows and she introduced us to her and started baring her testimony about how much the missionaries have changed her life. She kept saying, "if you just listen to them, they will change the way you see life and you will be a lot happier." It was amazing! We had no idea she had such a strong testimony! What an unexpected miracle!
On wednesday we had the chance to go to the Mesa Temple. Again, about 5 zones came and we had so many missionaries there at once. It's so special to be in the temple with so many missionaries. The spirit is so wonderfully strong and you know that all of them are spending all of their time and efforts bringing others closer to Christ. And after the session, it was wonderful to have them all in the celestial room together, like a big family reunion. Right now, because I'm away from all of you, these missionaries are my family. And we don't get to see each other very often, so when I see them I realize what it will be like in Heaven when we get to be reunited with those that we love so much forever. It truly is like Heaven. I can't wait!
The 15th of September is a big holiday in mexico. It's Mexico's Independance Day and Mexican's go all out for it. Our ward had a wonderful activity this week for it and they all dressed up in traditional mexican attire, including us as missionaries. The elders had bandanas and sombreros and the hermanas (us) had a blouse and long skirt with a red flower in our hair (see the picture). We really enjoyed ourselves and felt very mexican. One member of our bishopric saw our outfits and said, "Now this is the way our Heavenly Father wants His daughters to look." :) The food that they served was amazing mexican food, frijoles (beans), sopa (they call it soup, but it's actually a salad), of course tortillas, and carne asada (the meat of Mexico). And then we had a little program of songs and dances from Mexico. As full time and ward missionaries we all sang Cielito Lindo, a really famous Mexican song, and it was really silly, but really fun. This ward is such a blessing and it was so fun to share more in their culture this week.
Before the activity we also had another incredible opportunity. There is a man in our ward that had fallen away and had been excommunicated, but wanted so much to repent and stay strong in the gospel. He has worked hard for over a year to fully repent of his sins and this weekend he was able to be rebaptized. He asked me to sing at his baptism, and while I sang for him, I felt such a love for him and knew that Heavenly Father was so proud of him and that all of his sins had been forgiven through the Atonement of Christ. I know the Atonement is real and that was a really special, sacred experience for me to be a part of.
I know this is kind of a long email, but there's even more to tell. Last night we were OYMing (talking to people on the street about the gospel), and we had two very interesting conversations. One man that we talked to was very against the church. He told us that there were a lot of things that he did not agree with that he had learned about us from his church. He began to talk about a lot of things that he had heard that we did or believed in that were not true. We tried so hard to tell him that they were not true and to help him realize the truth, but he was very closed minded. Seeing that man, just made me sad that there are people out there that really do want to decive others about what we as a church believe in. And it made me so grateful for the chance to be a missionary and to try to help people see the truth. We also had the opportunity to talk to a man that just got out of jail. Because of his circumstances, he is jobless and homeless right now and he's trying to figure out his life. He actually came up to us and talked to us. He previously had many prejudices about our chruch, but he feels like he could use a little bit more help in his life. We had a really good conversation with him and bore our testimonies to him. It's amazing to see that God has helped to humble him to be able to turn to Him a little bit more.
Basically, it's been a wonderful week and we've had a lot of fun. I thank God everyday that I have the chance to be on a mission. Sometimes I can't believe that I actually am here on a mission and serving God fulltime. What an incredible chance that I have to do this and even though time is going fast, I'm so glad that I still do have time to continue to grow and learn and help more of His precious children. God is so good!
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