A Ginger Takes on Mexico: Things are not what they appear (Pocahontas 2 song)

Well this week was such a fiasco!!!!

To start off, Tuesday we had divisions. So after district class, all 4 of us went to our area to work. I was on my way to the comida with Hermana Vite, and I got a call from Hermana Duran - the leader of the hermanas for our zone - and she sounded like she had something she was not telling me. We finally showed up, and I look at the couch and Hna Z is all clenched up and could not move!!!! She grabs my arm and - while bawling her eyes out - is like Hermana help me stand up, I cannot stand up! I of course start to freak out just a little....and the only thing I can think to do is call the elders to give her a blessing. So then, like a crazed woman I just keep repeating ´Necesitamos los elderes, necesita una bendicion´. And of COURSE when you need señal....or service?.....there is not ANY. So then I run out of the house and down the street looking for señal, with Hna Vite trailing behind me. They finally show up and give her a blessing, and the hna for the comida is going on and on about a clinic around the corner for 30 pesos.....SHE OBVIOUSLY NEEDED MORE HELP THAT A CLINIC FOR 30 PESOS. We get to Hospital Angeles, and Hna Duran goes in with Hna Z, and the rest of us just wait in the lobby from 4:30 till 1:30. It was a wicked long day. The ófficial´diagnosis is that she had a kidney infection and problem with her spine/sciatic nerve, and all the pain together was intolerable. My poor companion. It still hurts to walk, but she is suffering through it and will not tell me if her back hurts. She is probably frustrated by now hahahahah I ask her about every 20 minutes how her back feels.

Crazy though, in the hospital, 3 different members came up to us in the time we were there and asked us if they could help with anything. We did not tell anyone we were there, they just showed up! They gave us money for a taxi, which was really great because it is like 50 pesos to get to the hospital. The mission leader showed up and brought us tacos and a big, huge, amazing blanket. We are very loved.

AND while we were in the hospital, around 10:30, Hna Vite told me she did not feel so good, so we went to the bathroom. Then she starts barfing her brains out, and since there was no one in the hospital so late at night, all the elders and people in the waiting room could hear her barfing. Poor girl!!!!

AND, 2 days later, the elders ate something bad and were barfing their brains out the whole day also. It seems like when something goes wrong, everything goes wrong! BUT, hopefully now it is all behind us hahaha and we will not see any more catastrophes for a while. Good news though, everyone is feeling better and Hna Z is walking pretty normally again!

Matilde and Estela - This little family is still so humble. Matilde has started walking a little, but its wicked hard because she has screws in her leg and cannot bend it. Every time we go to visit them, Matilde always has the Book of Mormon on her bed and the pamphlets we have left!!! That always makes us happy :) It is hard for her to leave - which makes it difficult to go to church. I know M does not want to feel like a burden! But we are here to help here! If I need to carry her down the hill where she lives, on my back, I will do it con mucho gusto!!!

Eucebia - we got to see her last night, and we have realized we need to teach her like a child. Speak really loudly, use pictures, and repeat ourselves a lot. That is what we did last night, and it was as if I could see something in her eyes changing. It was amazing. Her daughter left this week - not to return - and she now is alone with her 4 grandkids. Now that we know how to work with her, I am sure things will go a lot better :)

There is an hermana here named hermana Conde. She reminds me of Grandma hahah she loves us a lot and gives us salad whenever we go to eat at our house. If we go to visit her, she always has guayaba tea or atole de fresa and cookies. Sweet little old lady who loves us, and we love her right back!

Something I know I need to remember, is seeing the hand of the Lord in my life. I know even if the days seem rough, that I have TONS of blessings. I just need to look for them. I know that each one of us is so very very blessed. More than we realize. Our Heavenly Father loves us, and I think we often forget that He is there.

We watched The Best Two Years and a Noche de Hogar with some members, and I want to be like Elder Calhoun!!!! Seriously, he is great. Every missionary should have his enthusiasm and desire to invite everyone to be baptized hahaha.

THANK YOU CHRIS AND JILL FOR THE PACKAGE!!! It was so amazing!!!!! I love the letters from all the cousins and the Christmas stories! And my companion and I are enjoying the chocolate and headbands too! We put up the Christmas decorations anyway, even though it is almost the end of January! Thank you Tabitha for your letter! You are getting so big!

BIG NEWS!!!! The stake in Xalapa is dividing!! Now it is going to be the Xalapa and

Macuiltépec!!!! SO EXCITING!!!!!! The church is growing here in Mexico!!!!! A member of the 70 is coming in March I think to finish all the final things!

Random - We were walking to an appointment and some man was yelling because he was selling his mandarines. If you do not want what they are selling, you just ignore them, that is the way it always is. But then he starts yelling at us and is like Oh, Guerita, no me entiendes. Being very fed up that people think I cannot speak Spanish, I yell back SI ENTIENDO, NO GRACIAS. We kept on walking....and then I realized that I had basically yelled at the man. I did not yell....just spoke really strongly. Hna Z and I started dying hahha because she knows the frustration I feel with the language some times hahahaha but we both agreed it was not Christlike and that I can work on my responses when it comes to situations like that.

The church is true! Heavenly Father loves us!

Love, Hermana Westergard