A Ginger Takes on Mexico: The week of answered prayers

What a week. It has been a roller coaster health, emotional, success and every other way possible-wise.

Health wise....we were fasting Saturday and then ate on Sunday at the comida. It was all super fried though and about 3 hours later I was gagging a whole lot and Hna J said I was whiter than normal....if that is possible hahaha. Moral of the story, do not eat fried things - even if its the only thing to eat - after you have been fasting. I don't remember the last time I barfed....well now I do. But Hna J knows the power of the foods and cut me up melon and BOOM I felt a million times better.

We decided to count stairs after going up a bunch for the millionth time this week. One set has 218 and the other has 130. There are more too, we just forget to count them hahaha.

I had divisiones this week with Hna L. She is from Argentina and goes home in April, and it was such a privilege to work with her! I really learned to much. She is amazing at committing people according to their needs. She has a gift to recognize what people are missing, and to ask questions and help them realize how completing with the commandments will help them. I LOVED WORKING WITH HER!!! I hope I get the chance to be her companion before she goes home.

We had zone class this week and President decided to accompany us. AND GUESS WHO HAD TO DO PRACTICES WITH HIM?? We did. I almost died, but it actually went really well and he was a great fake-investigator!!!

I was reading in Jesus the Christ - I AM ALMOST DONE - and I was really impacted by a chapter about the apostolic ministry. It was so inspiring!!!! After Christ was crucified. his Apostles were thrown in prison time and time again. They were released eventually, but they were threatened if they continued to preach of Christ, well something bad would happen to them. But what did they do? The moment they get out, they go back to the temple and keep preaching. They 'valiantly taught and preached Jesus the Christ'. What a great example!!!! I am not being thrown in prison, but I should be teaching with the same enthusiasm and passion! WILL DO.

I also really liked Doctrine and Covenants 138:56 which says 'even before they were born, they...were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in His vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men'. THANK YOU CHRISTIE :) As missionaries, we were prepared!!! There is no greater work to be a part of.

I have been trying REALLYYYYYY hard to love my companion and see her as a daughter of God. And guess what?? IT IS WORKING :). I love my companion!! She is a little rough around the edges, but she is a great missionary, loves the people here, and is teaching me a lot.

G - We were waiting for her on Wednesday at the church and 6:30 came and went, then 7 came and went also. We figured we just got stood up and were kind of disappointed. THEN a woman bursts into the church asking for us - we were in another room. IT WAS HER!!! She got out of work late. And we then proceeded to have a beautiful lesson. In the beginning, I was being a little robotish, just kind of going through the points that we need to teach. Then I mentally slapped myself and thought 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! What are her needs? How are you helping her?' I closed my scriptures and just looked at her and started talking about Christ, that He suffered everything for us, that He understands and that God loves us more than we can imagine. We just need to look around at the flowers and the stars...all of this was made for us. 2 minutes later she was bawling and pouring out her life to us. She accepted to be baptized and is SO excited!! She did not go to church on Sunday because she went to tell her mom that she is going to be baptized. HOW BRAVE IS SHE?! I LOVE HER!!! What a blessing to be able to meet her. ALSO shows the importance of members, because one of her coworkers - M the ward secretary - was always inviting her to church and she finally took him up on the offer. :)

M - We finished the Plan of Salvation with her, and she is so interested by the degrees of glory. She wants to go to church...BUT her dad still shows up drunk every Saturday night. She talked to him about it and he stormed out of the house. She wants to wait till her dad stops coming to go with us. Her dad ends his work here in about a month...so she wants to wait till then. She is also supposed to have her baby in a month, not really quite sure what to do at this point with her :( I love her a lot but she is not really progressing

D and M- Examples of serving!!!!! How did we start talking to them? We climbed a million stairs to see J who was not there, saw an old lady cleaning above, and went to help her out. Hna J helped her outside and I washed all her dishes - it was a mountain - and about an hour later after cleaning, we sat down and got to talk about who we are, why we are here. AND THEY ARE SO RECEPTIVE!!!! They had heard that to be a member, the men had to pay and the women had to be with the bishop.....we cleared that doubt right up assuring them that that was COMPLETELY false. They were waiting for us Sunday morning when we went by for them and went to all 3 hours of church! D even brought her Book of Mormon. Side note, they have a million pets. Chickens, rabbits, turkeys, cats, dogs, birds, you name it. We met their pet rabbit that they later ate for lunch the next day. Poor little guy.

A - HA. I love this man! His daughter was a reference from a member, we went to their house and she was not there. Just her dad - A. He assures us he is very Catholic. And basically backed into his house and closed the door the first time we talked to him. 2nd time, we talked with him for about 7 minutes, letting him know we were gonna pass by on Tuesday - his day off - because we can see it from the sticker on his taxi. The 3rd time, he actually invited us in and we got to explain a little about the Book of Mormon. WOW!!! SO EXCITED!!!! Little by little, literally. It is good to have a companion who is a convert also. Sometimes people discredit me for being raised in the church and think I am a brainwashed child. But Hna J got baptized when she was 16, and people seem to give us more credit knowing that. So yay!!! I know he can be baptized!!!! Maybe the next visit we can even get him to read a scripture. Totally up for the challenge.

I love being a missionary!!! Honestly, this is the experience of a lifetime. I love love love love it!!! I KNOW PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED!!!!!! I love talking with Heavenly Father every day. I know when we pray sincerely, we will see a difference in our lives, as I have this week. What a great week!!!!

Love, Hermana Westergard