A Ginger Takes on Mexico: I Will Survive

¡Hola familia y amigos! (Hi family and friends)

So the theme this week is STAY ALIVE. IT IS SO HOT AND SO HUMID! And apparently it only gets worse from here. I try taking showers at night to feel somewhat cool, and I do for about 5 minutes, and then I am sweating over again. I lay on top of my bed praying to be able to fall asleep and not drown in my sweat, so far still alive!

This week has been full of ups and downs. I passed my 2 months mark. Crazy! At times I think wow, this has flown by. Other times I think I still have 16 months left, I MISS MY FAMILY! Especially here in Mexico, families are really big, so I see their love for their families and automatically think about mine too.

Random, there are no speed limits in Mexico. Just random speed bumps in the road. Basically every time I take a taxi 5 years are taken off my life.

Mon - I was SOOOOO burnt from pday futbol (picture will follow), the members were all laughing at me. They cut a piece of an aloe vera plant and gave it to me, needless to say I have been using it religiously EVERY DAY. The redness is mostly gone now! Ara came to FHE after much persuasion to get her off Facebook. Facebook is HUGE here, people are always on it. But she came, we had tamales and played some fun games! She has not attended church though, and she has a boyfriend who is very Catholic. We keep an optimistic attitude though!

Tues - Guillermina told us that she talked about prayer with her husband! And that she had been praying! SO AWESOME!! She has a really strong Spirit, the only problem is she is expecting her baby in the next couple of weeks, so she has a lot of appointments with doctors and cannot attend church. Today was also full of scary experiences. I KNOW I AM BEING LOOKED AFTER AND PROTECTED!!! One experience, we were walking to visit Maximina, she lives down this dark path in the woods. To get to that dark path, you need to walk down a dark street with lots of turns and dogs who want to eat you. It was late at night, around 8ish so it was completely dark. After getting the dogs away from us (Hna D threw some pebbles and I basically launched a boulder), we got around the bend, saw that there were absolutely NO lights, and looked at eachother and both immediately turned around to think of a different course of action to take. Walking back, we saw some smoke that had not been there before. Then Hna D grabs my hand and takes of running. Once we get to the mainish street again, Hna told me that she had seen a man crouching in the shadows of the trees, wearing a baseball cap. The bishops house was close, so we RAN to it and got references from them. The bishops house is safe! The diference between the Spirit in the house and as we were walking around that bend were tremendous. I know We are being watched over and protected. I am so grateful for that blessing!

Wed - We had exchanges today with the Hnas in the Center. I was with Hna Hernandez. She is so great with kids, so friendly, so helpful, and so good at getting reference! I learned a lot from her!! We got a new investigator, Antonio, and I think he wants to marry us. I am referred to as guerra once again, not my favorite term. He cannot read, and was meeting with missionaries before us, but was discouraged because he could not read and stopped meeting with them. We have had some really good lessons, and he really like the pictures in the pamphlets too. The Spirit talks to us in different ways! There is a lot of military presence in Papantala because of the festival at Tajin, so that is intimidating too. We have interviews with President Lopez, he told me to wear lots of sunscreen after seeing how red I was. Apparently a missionary got skin cancer while on his mission here. I HAVE WORN IT EVERY DAY SINCE! GOT LETTERS FROM MOMMA!!!!!! Highlight of the day!!! :)

Thurs - We keeping finding bigger hills when we think we have found the largest one. We are seriously scaling mountains every day. I am so greateful for Mollys and Rachels emails and their example to me! I read them for guidance and mood boosters, they are both hilarious and inspiring. Chiles are yummy! But not too spicy. I have to take realllyyyy littleee bites before I dig into things to see how spicy it is. I talked to a man on some stairs about the BoM and baptism. Basically my first time really doing that myself. Scary! But I felt good after!

Fri - There are old ladies carrying crosses all over the streets since it is getting close to Easter and Lent and everything. Kind of daunting to see big crosses on everyones doors when we are walking to appointments. I am trying to listen to the Spirit more, the language is hard and I know I cannot say what needs to be said without extra help! I keep inviting people to baptism, but they cannot understand my accent. Ug.

Sat - 2 month mark! Wahoo!! 2 Nephi 31:20, do not give up! I know I have been gone from the US for a long time when I do not remember TSwift lyrics. The wives here need to ask for permission for everytyhing from their husbands, that is really hard. So many of these women want to be baptized, but their husbands say no. Ursula, Carmen, Daisy, they all want to but their husbands have the final say. I pray for their hearts to be softened every day. Papantala is apparently one of the hardest places in the whole mission because people are so involved with their traditions. I will break the trend! I miss mommas cookng! Rice and chicken and beans all day everyday

Sun - no investigators came to church. We had a really good lesson with Carmen about the Plan of Salvation. Her daughter died as a child, the Spirit was SO strong, I cried, she cried, she really opened up to us. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE!!

People in Mexico lie a lot, it is a fact hahaha. We often go looking for people at their houses. As we approach, people basically take cover and hide in their houses. Finally, they send out a child to deny knowing all the people who we ask if they know them, and then we ask other neighboors if they know, for example Maria. Turns out that person is Maria because when we ask them their name they do not answer. YAY :)

This is hard, but I feel God's love for his children and want to help them. I am sorry i I cannot respond to everyone, time is REALLY limited. I love you all!!

Hermana Westergard