A Ginger Takes on Mexico: Hermana Zuñiga

Hola!!!!

Well this week was all about Hermana Zuñiga. My poor companion has horrible back problems and we still do not know what the problem is. We were back at the hospital again on Tuesday. I feel like her mom. Signing all her medical forms and filling out her paper work. They wanted to do an MRI but it was gonna be almost 7,000 pesos and our mission insurance does not cover it. President is trying to figure out if it would be better to do it all here in the mission or if it would be better to send her back to her house to recuperate and then come back to the mission to finish without problems. We will see what is going to happen, but I feel like it is really likely she will be going home this week or sometime in the next one. I HOPE NOT THOUGH!!! President and Hermana Greer have fasted for her, the area doctor has fasted for her, she has had a bunch of blessings, we are doing all that we can do. But even if we cannot get out to work that much, I have decided that my calling is to serve my companion and I am doing that full throttle. She does not tell me when she is in pain or needs help, but now it is like I have developed a 6th sense for it. I love her a lot!! It hurts to see her in so much pain. I almost lost it Tuesday night. We had gotten back from the hospital and the drugs were wearing off and she was bawling and sobbing and clenching up and the elders finally came over to give her a blessing and I was trying to make sure she had taken all the pills she could take and with just EVERYTHING GOING ON I started crying - not hysterically though - too. The poor elders did not know what to do and one went to get a hymnbook from my table and he started singing and the other just sat on my bed. We had literally been doing everything in our power. Hna Z finally calmed down though thank goodness and we made it through the night and here we are!!........well I am not going to erase this all but President Greer just called us, my companion is going home Wednesday. Other than that....no idea what is going to happen with me. He knows what is best for us though!

Moving on from the stressful part of the week though - Hna Chio, an hermana who always helps us with our laundry and just loves us so much is pregnant! I love her family so much hahaha I hope my future family can be as cute as theirs. We were eating with them on Monday and Chio and Marcos - her husband - were joking around and he said he was only going to wash the dishes because she was pregnant. We thought we did not hear right though but then we went back to their house that night and we asked and were confirmed! We were the only ones in on their secret until they decided to tell their kids and the rest of their family hahahah we are just so happy for them!!! Marcos also is WICKED smart with a lot of deep doctrine, my conversations with him are some of my favorite conversations ever! Like what language does God speak? I KNOW. Something more to think about....in John 5:19, Christ says that he cannot do anything that His Father has not done. Meaning, if Christ was crucified to be our Savior, then our Heavenly Father did something similar, and His father before him, and it goes on and on!! WOW. My mind is completely blown every time I talk to him! I have a lot of studying to do to be as knowledgable as him.

Matilde - still so great!!!! But she has a lot of challenges. She is recovering quickly from what happened to her leg, and is reading everything that we leave with her to do! SHE IS PERFECT! She told us that she thinks she had to pass through these trials so that she could be closer to God. That is like pure gold!!!! It is amazing that she can see that for herself!!!! She also asked us what we drank. Sometimes, when I hear that, my heart sinks a little because we talk about the Word of Wisdom once we have a decent relationship with the investigators because they trust us more and are more receptive to what we have to say. Well, I told her we do not drink coffee or alcohol and she kind of just paused....my heart sank a little more......and then she responds I always drink coffee with my mom in the mornings, but I will tell her I would rather have juice now. AAHHHHH YAYYYYY!!!!!!!!!! What an amazing girl :) Her dad is a problem though. He does not want us to visit her and put a lock on their gate so we cannot get in....we are going to need to try to find a way around that.

Eucebia - her grandkids are completely off the walls, but it is obviously from a lack of parent supervision in their lives. Poor kids. She is changing though. It is like I can see a light growing in her eyes. When we show up to talk to her or help her grandkids with homework, she is so receptive and obviously wants to learn. She tells the kids to turn off the TV so she can focus on what we are saying. She is not confident in herself though because she cannot read or write, but we are working on building that and also her confidence in us!

An hermana from the ward - Isabel - was able to help me out a couple of days this week and she is honestly a saint. I am so grateful for her! She served her mission in Tampico, and has such a strong testimony. What a great example for me she is. I have always been so blessed to be in wards with amazing members!!!

Random news - Elder McGlinchy and Rojas had emergency transfers and we now have Elder Knudson and Klouse.

I finally de-decorated and threw out the Christmas branches we had in our house. If it was my choice I would have Christmas decorations all year round.

Oh yeah, I celebrated 1 year in the mission this week! WOW! I made pancakes with peanut butter and lechera and bananas for Hna Z and me hahahah they were great. She celebrated 7 months in the mission the day after, and I made her some snowflakes and bought her A LOT of pan, because I think she loves it more than I do. No one here knows how to make snowflakes from paper, so they always think it is wicked great. Hna Westergard with her American preschool skills hahaha

A great quote I ran into reading a General Conference talk: "Courage is....the form of every virtue at its testing point." - CS Lewis. We need to be courageous in all things, no matter the situation. If we can remain firm, even at the testing point, we will be blessed! It isn´t easy to do, but the hard things are always worth it.

Love, Hermana Westergard