A Ginger Takes on Mexico: Back at it

I LOVE LANI ALISA

HAHAH THE HNA MORA!! I cannot express my love for this family

me and Elder Dean being cool

i love these girls!!!(Brenda is a member behind us, Hna Braun, Hna Martinez de Honduras y Hna Quiñonez)

Brrrrr my fingers are frozen I don't know if I will be able to type this email. Just kidding I will be able to write it.....but my fingers are definitely icicles. Who would have thought that Mexico could get so cold! I wear 2 coats every day and can see my breath at night. Definitely was not prepared for this. But it is better than using my sweat rag! I reminisce on my Papantla days because Hna Hidalgo served there too! So whenever we find a hill that is somewhat steep and large, we just look at each other and say Papantla.

SO MUCH THIS WEEK I DONT KNOW WHERE TO BEING! I write little notes in my agenda to remind me what I want to say, and I have gotten to the point where I use colors and A, B, C to help me organize my thoughts while I am writing. This is intense stuff.

So I am now in Museo! Still in Xalapa, more near the trees, and more big hills here. There is a freeway type thing that we always walk on called Ruiz Corinez...it is way better to walk on it at night because there are cars somewhat and some lights. It gets dark here around 6 so we are just super cautious in the 3 hours of darkness that we are out and about working. My companion has had some really bad experiences in the mission with creepy men and darkness....so she is kind of paranoid and super cautious too. There are also some protests and stuff going on because people are not happy with the government, there are people disappearing (mostly the college students who are protesting), and there are these Veracruz games (which are like the Olympics but just for Latin American countries and the Caribbean). Sooooo things are just kind of all over the place right now!!!

After that rant:

I only cried a little a lot leaving Hermana Quiñonez. She is definitely one of my best friends and an incredible person. I am going to miss her so much!!! Luckily, my new companion is also so great! She is from Chile, and was born where my dad served his mission! All these little connections are so cool!! Hna Hidalgo is super humble, and when she teaches, her love and sincerity are undeniable. I am super excited for this change! I remember sitting with her when we first got to Mexico and we were saying the words of the things on the table because we did not know hardly and Spanish. AND LOOK AT US NOW. Conversing every day! So cool how we both have grown! My new house is less humid...which is good because I found mold in a bunch of my clothes when I was packing. Gross. Also no hot water but we have a water resistor? I don't know the name exactly but you put the rod in the bucket of water and it heats it right up! Not so bad.

I am the compañera mayor! It feels weird to be mayor, but I like it. I feel more responsible and like I am guided more. I don't know how to describe it really, but Hna H and I work so well together! We are the same, except I have the keys and the phone. One of the first things I noticed when I got here are the neighbors. They loved Hna Chandler - Hna H´s pervious companion. They are investigators, and kind of see me as replacing the other missionary. I am trying to gain their love though and I think it is working! I charmed them over when I showed them the excellent fart sounds I can make with my hands and mouth. Poco a poco hahaha little by little.

So many interesting and new people I have met this week:

Carmen - an old lady we contacted in the street. SHe emerged from her house when she heard us banging on the door of someones house trying to get their attention. Her mom sold her blood because she couldn't find work and had 4 kids to feed. So sad :( We are going to talk with her tomorrow!! SHe is a feeble old lady, and we were talking with her and a bug landed on her door. All doors here are made out of metal. She looks at it for like 2 seconds, winds her hand back and SMASHES it with all her little old lady strength. Her house basically shook hahahaha it was so much strength for such a small thing. Hna H and I just lost it hahaha then she laughed with us. I love old people!!

Maria - lived in England for 30 years, her husband is currently in Thailand in their house there and is an Oxford graduate. They have a ranch in France, she met Princess Diana in the flesh, survived cancer by drinking these natural remedies with iodine, and knows the Book of Mormon is true. Wow.

Don Toño - man we contacted. Contacting will always be awkward hahah but you just gotta embrace it. We were talking with him, had a great lesson and I was just starting to explain about Joseph Smith and the First Vision when....HIS DAUGHTERS WALK IN. We thought they wanted to kill us for a little but we just kept on talking and smiling and being as charming as we could. We all ended up laughing and talking at the end, and we have another appointment to visit them this week!

Lorena - investigator of the elders, but they gave up because she was being floja and said we could teach her if we wanted. We went to talk with her and FOUND THE ROOT of her doubts. First she was saying that she didn't understand that babies don't need to be baptized. But after talking more and more, she tells us she wants to experiment things - like drugs and alcohol. THE ROOT. We left her with a chapter to read about faith, and bore tons and tons of testimony about the importance of not doing that stuff. And she went to church with us on Sunday!

Talked with a crazy, cranky Catholic cahoon. My attempt at alliteration, i am not quite sure what cahoon means. He is a man though. He cut us off every moment we tried to say ANYTHING and refused to listen to our words even though even the densest of people could not deny what we were saying. Not going back with the interrupting igloo. Igloo because his heart is so hard we cannot get through. Tal vez, no es su tiempo.

Saturday - Very interesting day. The Hna for the comida was LITERALLY piling food onto our plates. Literally. My plate was half full of rice and she piled on 2 scoops more and 3 more of beans. So. Full. I never really experienced that before. We totally saw the hand of the Lord guiding us too!!!! It is so cool to see that. We were just walking, and a woman walked out of her garage and into her house. We said Buenas Noches as we walked by. We kept on going and then we hear someone calling us. We go back, and she asked us if we teach about the Bible and says she wants to meet with us. WOW. We are meeting with Cindy on Thursday!

Sunday - One of the days where you do everything you can and work so hard, but nothing goes your way. We looked and looked for hours for people, nada. Starving, we went to the comida and what was it? PANSITA NOOOOOOO MY WORST ENEMY AND NIGHTMARE AAAAHHHHHHHH. Pansita with rice and tortillas. Luckily, we were eating with the elders and they saved us. They offered to wash the dishes and they stealthily dumped it in the drash while we sang with the hermana. They were able to eat theirs, with about 10 tortillas each, but we just couldn't. I tried...i got about 2.5 pieces down. We feasted on mandarinas for lunch instead. A little old lady with Alzhiemers also told me I was gigantisma, and gave me about 30 kisses. She was adorable.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! SO HAPPY I GET TO BE OUT AND WORKING AGAIN!!!!

Love, Hermana Westergard