Christmas, Chocolates, & SKYPE

Feliz Navidad!

(I´m in denial that Christmas is over) So I loved Christmas here! Seriously it was so perfect. :) Here in Mexico instead of going to bed early Christmas eve everyone stays up all night and parties and then Santa comes the night of Christmas day.

Someone's nativity, it's all of Bethlehem!

Yes our neighbors partied all night long... Luckily I slept through most of it.

We worked like normal on Christmas day until 6 and I got to Skype my family!!! I love you guys...

Haha Hermana Ludlam says that all of us (except Sarah) move and talk and have the same manerisms. I had never noticed that before, but ha I guess I had to come from somewhere. ;) After we had dinner with the Familia Martinez. It was a fantastic Christmas.

Familia Tzul - Almuerzo Christmas Day

Other things that happened this week:

We accidentally locked our keys inside our house. On the Noche Buena (Christmas eve) of course, and realized it like two visits after we had left the house. We managed to get a window open and could see the keys but couldn´t get to them... -_- But with the help of a PVC pipe we totally broke in all by ourselves...Not sure how I feel about the fact that is was that easy to break-in but you know.. haha

So we totally tried to contact this American family (in English!!) and it was so hard! I could have normal conversation in English (more or less...) but to try and contact and teach in English was a struggle. (I´m stuck in this no-man´s-land of Spanglish. I don´t really speak Spanish but I can´t speak real English either....hah.) Also, rejection is worse in English for some reason.

Yesterday we had an interesting Santa Cena.. hah. What I thought was just dark bread turned out to be this brownie thing. haha. I think we should have it for Sacrament every week. Also we spoke in sacrament meeting. First time I´ve had to speak in Spanish...it was...well I don´t really know how it turned out, but I did it!

So we lost one of our investigators who was really close to baptism. She literally left in the middle of the night to go live with her ex again...*sigh* But we have found a couple more families this week and have a couple families who are really close to baptism. And I love them :)

Honestly there is so much JOY in this work. I see the gospel changing people every single day, and it´s miraculous really. The gospel is miraculous. Through Christ we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again, we have hope and life and love and a plan for eternity. What a gift.

Merry Christmas! I love you all!

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Part of our Christmas bounty, the members really take care of us!

Bats, Rats, & a Scorpion on a Mission

¡Hola!

Soo...I love being a missionary. We´ve been praying and working really hard to find families and this was like the week of families! We have like four families who either have baptismal dates or are at least thinking about one. It´s AWESOME! Haha. We have investigators who are progressing (5 in the chapel this week), and I absolutely love them.

It´s really easy to love people who want to learn. hah. It makes my job so much easier.

This has been the week of weird creatures though. I finally realized that the things flying around every night are not birds...they´re bats. And the things rustling in the trash bags...those are the rats. And one night we were walking home and there was this lone scorpion walking down the sidewalk like he had somewhere to be. Also there was a cockroach in my shelf last night....yeah we killed him good.

Also I LOVE CHRISTMAS! We had our Devocional Navideño yesterday and it was awesome. We sang as a zone...I had a solo...hah... And I saw all my people from the MTC! And then Hna Ludlam and I sang in the talent show and I have a video...but it´s too big to send. :( You all will just have to wait to hear our gloriousness...

Presidente talked about how we all need to become more like Christ. Christ said we need to be people even as He is, and I´ve thought a lot about that lately. I want to BE like Christ, not just do missionary things because I´m a missionary. I realize that I have long ways to go, but "I´m trying to be like Jesus" (hum along if you know that song).

Our "First Baptism" Sergito! (Presidente´s grandson who got baptized in our ward last week)

It´s a big project. hah.

Anyway...I know that Christ is the best gift our Heavenly Father could have given us, and we all need to discover, accept, and share that gift. And that when we do that we can have REAL joy and REAL peace and REAL hope in our lives right now, and eternal life after. But it´s only possible through Christ.

I love you all! Merry Christmas & Feliz Navidad!

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Ceviche! Yes that is octopus. Yes I enjoyed it immensely. :) 

Familia Polanco & Their Delicious Ceviche

Shepherds, Sheep, & Shooting Stars

Hola My People,

So...I´m no entirely sure how, but it´s P-day again!! Time flies here!!!

Primero: can we talk about how much I love Christmas???? Because I do. :) We´re using Él es La Dádiva to contact and I just love it so much (although 97.38% of people don´t know what Dádiva means). I love being able to tell people HOW they can accept the Gift that is Jesus Christ; because it really does change lives. I was singing in the calle the other day....yes I do that a lot...."Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled" and I realized something. I don´t know what I was thinking before but I always pictured that line more like it was a special occasion, like in that day everyone got a free pass or something...But I realized that on that day the world received The Gift that forever made it possible for God and sinners to be reconciled, because it´s only possible through Jesus Christ and his Atonement. BUT we have to know how to accept that gift.

And that´s where we come in. :)

So we´ve been pretty busy this week, minus one day that we literally walked from one end of our area to the other and only taught two lessons all day... -_- But! We have some really great investigators who are beginning to see the changes that the gospel is making in their lives, and I just love them.

This week we got to go to the Stake Center for an activity with the Primary. All the wards got together and sang carols. My comp is awesome and played her violin and I did an awesome job as a glorified music stand. haha. Also...niños! Love them.

I realized I forgot to tell you a funny story last week... When my comp was sick she was resting in the house for a bit in the afternoon, but we had a cita that evening so we headed out again and I legit left the house in my slides....totally forgot to put on real shoes. Haha I only realized that I was wearing them when we turned around to get something we forgot...I´m cool. haha

Also I saw shooting stars this week. :)

I just wanted to tell you all how much I love you. And how much I love this work, I know that our message is true, and I know that it changes lives because it´s changed mind. Merry Christmas & Feliz Navidad. Les amo. And don´t forget to #SharetheGift!! 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Navidad, Panuchos, & Él es la Dádiva

¡Hola from Chuburná!

The calle I live in.  The kids play soccer every night.

Yes, you heard right, last night was transfers but I am staying in Chuburná with my mom! Hah we were so excited when we found out; normally you stay with your trainer for two cambios but Presidente doesn´t always work that way so I was a bit nervous before. Especially because I feel like we finally got the ball rolling this week. We found several new investigators, including a little family that is just awesome. And....

...drum roll please....

WE HAD SIX INVESTIGATORS IN THE CAPILLA!!! It´s a miracle considering we´ve had a grand total of one eleven year old in all the rest of the weeks combined. It made me super happy. :)

Also, can we talk about He is the Gift (en español Él es la Dádiva, BTW no one knows the Word Dádiva)  If you haven´t seen it go to christmas.mormon.org and watch the video and share it because it´s seriously AWESOME. I love it because I feel like I´m more focused in Christ now when we contact, before we had a habit of highlighting the Restoration, but now all of our contacting is centered more in Christ. Also, because it´s Christmas time we get to sing Christmas hymns and we´re learning that for the most part even if people don´t want to listen to us they´ll listen to us sing. :)

Hna Flor! About to head out on a misión to Costa Rica!

So things that happened this week:

I got called rubia which is basically blond...haha if only they could see my siblings.

Hermana Ludlam got really sick so I had a nice day of working on our área map and book. Luckily I have an immune system of steel so I´m doing good...knock on wood.

Hermana Margarita made us panuchos which are like my FAVORITE THING EVER. They´re tortillas with beans inside, and chicken and cabbage and salsa on top....you don´t even want to know how many I ate....

We got to teach the Young Women how to study like missionaries. It was awesome and since studying is one of the highlights of my day I was super excited to help them get excited...

..lots of excitement...hah

Umm...we got peed at....Basically what happened was that we contacted a man in the calle he went inside for what we thought was just going to be a moment, but out came a different man who, when we tried to introduce ourselves, started peeing...we took the hint and left. The thing about it though is that like four months ago I would have been furious.

I know...you´re all shocked that I have a temper. hah

And I´m not saying I´m a saint, but I wasn´t even mad. I´m not saying I want to be best friends, I just felt bad for him. He has no idea what he´s turning down.

But luckily we found lots of people this week who didn´t turn us down and I´m so excited to keep working in this área for the next 6 weeks!! I love you all and hope you have a great week!

And don´t forget to #SharetheGift

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Transfer 2: Chuburná

Best Things...

-The people. I seriously love them. Members, investigators, missionaries. They´re awesome. 

-When someone accepts a baptismal date! Seriously, there´s nothing like it. It´s even better when you can continue to teach them and they progress (we´ve had a lot of first lessons where people accept a baptismal date and then we can´t find them again...*Long drawn out sigh*....)

Worst Things...

-Cold showers. Hate them. Every. Day. So much hate. 

-Dogs. They hate me. I hate them. They´re everywhere.

Things that are working for me...

-I love my bag. It´s nice because it has a waist strap that keep some of the weight off my shoulder. Also, mine is a smaller size but I think it´s good because it keeps me from packing too much stuff in it. 

-My Clarks are the bomb. I would wear them every single day if I wasn´t worried about them lasting for the next 15 months. I had no problems with them right off the bat, no blisters or anything.

-My watch lights up! Which is more helpful than you´d think it would be when you´re wondering the streets at night in the dark.

-USB adapter-thingy for my SD card is really nice because I can keep it in my camera case and I don´t have to pack a camera cord.

-Spray sunscreen!! We have to wear sunscreen every day (it´s a rule) and it´s so nice to spray and go. 

-My favorite skirt is actually the one Hermana Messenger gave me in the MTC. It´s longer and patterned, so it covers everything when I´m perched on someone´s front step and it does´t show the dirt. :) 

I wish I would have known...

-The MTC is NOTHING like a real mission. At least for me, it was completely different; it might be different if I was serving state-side or english speaking, but...Yeah. NOTHING like the MTC.

-The first two weeks are the hardest. I had to take it one day at a time there for a while, but after that, the weeks have seriously been a blur. 

-To bring more pens! I´m seriously territorial over my pens. haha. They´re expensive here and not as nice. 

Food...

-Lots of rice, beans, and pork. It´s all been really good, nothing too strange.

-We have tortillas with every meal. Hah we even have spaghetti (I´ve actually had spaghetti a lot here...) with tortillas. They are part utensil, part napkin, and part food. I love tortillas. 

-Boudin. Not sure how you spell it, but they take the bread from the day before, grind it up and mix it with eggs and stuff, and then it´s like a brick of custard-y bread-y deliciousness. Also, it´s only like 3 pesos...and this is why I´m going to get fat.

-Panuchos. They´re delicious bean filled fried tortillas piled with chicken and cabbage and onions and salsa. I legit eat waaaayyyyy too many of these every time we have them

Fun Facts about Mexico...

-90% of the people here don´t flush their toilet paper. They put it in a trash can next to the toilet. 

-Women kiss each other on the cheek. I thought that was a French thing...apparently it´s a Mexican thing. Hah. 

-This time of year it gets dark really early, like 6:00pm or so, because Mexico doesn´t do daylight savings. It´s weird to be walking around in the dark for like 3 hours. 

-Everyone is a crazy driver. I´m terrified every time I have to get in a vehicle. Hah. It´s a zoo. I am SOOO grateful we don´t have cars. 

-In this mission we wear our tags on the opposite side as we were told to in the MTC (so on our right instead of left). Not entirely sure why...I´ve been told it´s because a General Authority told Pres. Garcia that that´s where a person´s eyes go when you shake their hand. 

Weather...

-Hot! But only really from 12 to 2, and then we have lunch and by the time we´re done it´s usually started to cool off. I´ve been told it´s not even hot yet so...yeah.

-Also humidity, it´s not too bad. I was expecting worse. I do feel vaguely sticky all the time.

-It hasn´t rained too much, but when it rains it either pours or it just kind of mists. I kind of love it.

Mayan...

-coox waye: come here

-ek: star

-pec: dog

-mixpa: nothing

-manlo: it´s good

(x is a shh sound by the way...)

I learned...

-How to teach about the Trinity. D&C 130:22. Look it up. We seriously have used it at least 100 times. You can´t teach people to come unto Christ if they think Jesus and Heavenly Father and the Holy Ghost are one big convulted mess of everything and nothing. 

-How to contact on the bus. It´s seriously a skill because it´s so loud and people don´t really want to talk to you... I just smile and keep asking questions until they talk to me. :) 

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

Cambios, Lentes, & Miembros

¡Buenas Tardes!

I´m not entirely sure how, but it´s Lunes....errr Monday again. (My brain only speaks Spanglish). Time is going by SO SO SO fast. I´m almost done with my first cambio in the field!! I´m really hoping (and praying) that I get to stay with Hermana Ludlam in Chuburná for the next transfer so fingers crossed!! 

So this week...

The members have started to share the gospel for themselves!!! The biggest problem here is that the members say they don´t know anyone so we´ve been trying to encourage them to get to know their neighbors, talk about the gospel in normal conversations, and go about doing good. AND THEY´RE LISTENING!! We have some who are passing out cards and pamphlets, others started up conversations that are leading towards Noches de Hogar, others are inviting people to their homes. I just know that this is going to lead to big results. We´re planting right now but soon we´re going to harvest.

​Hna Graciella Pool

​Hna Norma Mull

With a combine. :) (Farming joke)

We´ve got some great investigators too! I don´t know what we´re doing differently but we´ve finally got people who want to change and are keeping their commitments (minus going to church, had a grand total of 0 again this week -_-) and progressing. It´s so exciting to see the changes that they´re beginning to see in their own lives. 

Ahhhhh EVERYONE NEEDS THIS GOSPEL! 

I´ve also had my heart broken this week. We had a great little family who for one reason or another decided to drop us, and it KILLED me. They just couldn´t change, even though that´s what they need to do to solve their problems. It is so hard when I KNOW that I have what they need and they won´t accept it. 

Agency. I am learning about agency right now, we all have our choice. They can choose to accept or reject our message. But I am choosing to share it so they can have the opportunity to make that choice for themselves.

​Hna Delfina Molina

Hna Leydi Negron

In other news, we had INTERCAMBIOS this week! I went with Hna Castro to her area Terranova for a day (evening, night, morning, afternoon). I really enjoyed it, and I learned a lot from Hna Castro. She´s awesome. Love her.

But I also realized how much I love my compañera. Haha we think the same way so it´s so easy to be on the same page as her and teach together. Love Hermana Ludlam!!

During intercambios we ate with a member and he asked me to take out my colored lenses because my eyes were freaking him out...haha Not a lot of people with blue eyes here (even Hna Ludlam has brown eyes). Also, on another random note, I get so many questions here about my birthmark. Like more than I ever have before. 

Mexicans aren´t shy to point out differences. haha I love them. 

Welp... I am loving life here in Mexico! And enjoying the fact that I´m not walking through the snow here. ;) haha Enjoy winter!! Love you all, love this gospel, love my Savior, Jesucristo.

¡Vale la pena!

Hermana Wilson

​Hno Manuel

Carlos, Javier, Hna Ludlam, Hna Wilson, Hna Melvi