A Ginger Takes on Mexico: still cold

Still cold. Really cold. But the work moves forward!!! SO THIS WEEK...

NORMA WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!!!! AAAHHHHHHH. One of my converts in Olivo went on the ward temple trip on Friday!!!!!!! MY HEART IS SO FULL!!!!! I AM SO HAPPY!!!!! I cannot describe the joy I feel knowing that. Hna Q said she was gonna send me a picture buttttt still waiting on it. SO HAPPY :):):):):):)

Random things:

My water bottle got a hole in it and ruined EVERYTHING in my bag. Including my himnario. Ug. Life goes on though. Also very grateful for my camera case.

I ate some of the most delicious food and some of the not best food this week.....among the best were chiles rellenos and platanos machos rellenos and birthday dulce mole and tamales. Seriously I love Mexican food. I would consider living in Mexico after the mission just for the food. Among the worst....an hermana made a ´salad´ with hot dogs and tuna........still not quite sure what to think of it.

2 families were so great to us this week. We had talked a little about Thanksgiving - me and the American elders - and the ward mission leader made us a little Thanksgiving dinner! And another family invited us all to their house the day after for more ´Thanksgiving´. None of the dinners had turkey....but one did have a cheese ball and the other had mashed potatoes. All in all, basically Thanksgiving! THE MEMBERS ARE SO GREAT EVERYWHERE!!!! They love us like we were their own kids.

I found worms in my grapefruit after I had eaten half of the half.....it is like that joke of what is worse than finding a worm in your apple? Half a worm. I DO NOT KNOW HOW THEY GOT IT. THERE WERE NO HOLES OR ANYTHING. Have not eaten grapefruit since.

I got to ride in the back of a truck! Finally!!! SO INVIGORATING!!! hahaha we must have looked crazy. A Chileno and an American in skirts laughing our heads off as we careened down the hills and around the bends. LOVE ITTTTT - Wheezy voice from Dragon Tales

Hermana H randomly says things in English and I love it hahah and it always cracks me up. Her favorite things to say are 1. Suspicious men 2. Ow, my eye 3. YOU SHUT UP 4. I want to eat 5. She/He is fat. hahahah from small things are great things come to pass.

Lorena and Camilo - THEY ARE GETTING BAPTIZED ON THURSDAY!!!!! YAYYYY!!!! Camilo´s 11th birthday!!!!!! YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!! This week was literally so up and down. All over the place. Sometimes it is hard to get them to focus, the 10 year old distracts the 14 year old and they both distract my companion so I feel like I am the mom. BUT all of that aside....we finally got down to what was holding Lorena back. We talked with her, had a great spiritual lesson about repentance and the Holy Ghost with some amazing movies and the Spirit andddddd they decided for this week!!!! Lorena loves us! She told us she does not want us to be changed. The poor girl has gone through a lot and it going through a lot. She told her mom about her baptism and everything! The only things missing are the signatures of their parents on their cedulas and their interviews! Prayers are answered and miracles happen! We have been working with them SO much. Cosas difíciles valen la pena.

Matilde - an older woman who was taught by other missionaries. She knows the church is true, and believes in the Book of Mormon, she just is not married. But her boyfriend is up for marriage! Now we just need to help them follow through with it!

Ivanna - a 10 year old whose mom is less active. She was also taught by other hermanas but she backed out last minute from her baptism. We went with the Elders, and the lesson went AMAZING!!!! Elder McGlinchy is my district leader and he is so powerful! An amazing missionary! He is so good at making commitments and clarifying and recommitting. Long story short, we set her date for this Saturday too! EEEKKKK!!!!!! Her problem was she did not want a lot of people in her baptism. We can solve that! Just do it when it is not Sunday! Miracles on miracles on miracles!

The neighbors - still trying so hard with them. David and Angel went to church with us on Sunday - along with their friend Williams. Hna H and I were like moms hahah we had 4 little boys with us, the oldest being 11. I cannot tell what they are thinking, or what they want, or if they even believe what we are teaching. But they love us a lot. How to distinguish what to do? I do not know.

Cindy and Blanca - everything under the sun is happening to them this week it seems like and we did not get to see either of them :( Hopefully this week will be better for them both!

Laura and Soña - They hide from us literally. We went to their house, and Laura's boyfriend answered the door and told us he had been waiting for them for like 30 minutes. We talked to him a little and then left. As we were going down the steps, I was looking in their window and I see Laura pop out from under the desk. Why do they feel the need to hide? We don´t bite hahaha but if they don´t want to listen I would rather they just tell us. Funny they hide though

I cannot believe it is December!!! TIME IS FLYING!!!!! The church is true! Make good decisions while you can!

Love, Hermana Westergard