Corriendo

Bohemian Rhapsody is playing in the internet cyber where I am....very weird. Sorry I literally have no idea how to spell that.

SO THIS WEEK WAS GREAT!!!! We were running all over the place because we had to go to Perote to set apart an appointment with the judge for J and E's wedding. Perote is like 2 hours away in bus and we went there twice this week. BUT IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!!!! They got married and were baptized on Sunday! We were also sad because they were going to change houses, and then they were not going to be living in our area. BUT THEN on Sunday they told us they are not going to move!!! YAYYYY :) E told us that we must have been praying a lot for them, and she told us that she secretly did not want to move either. Actually, praying a lot for them would be an understatement hahaha every time we pray we pray for them! AND PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED!!! They are my favorite little family, and in 1 year they can be sealed. March 29th 2016, mark your calendars!!!!! 

I love this area so much. This is going to sound sad, but I feel like I am finally starting to work with people who have testimonies and who are truly converted. It is an amazing difference to see.

Hna A and I have been doing the 12 semanas together. It is a program for missionaries when they first get into the mission field, and I LOVE IT. I am learning so much while we are doing it together. I mean, I did this program more than a year ago, and basically did not understand anything of Spanish so I am not quite sure that I got a whole lot out of it. But I feel like I am rebuilding my basics, and it is really cool to see how my perspective has changed in this past year of being a missionary and to see how much I have learned and grown!

We have been eating SO MUCH chile these past couple of weeks. I told Hna A that we are making up for all the chile she did not eat with Hna L, because she does not like spicy stuff. Our stomachs are definitely suffering these days. Lots of Pepto Bismol.

It is really different being the only sister missionaries around here for miles. There are 3 zonas here, and we are the only ones. We see a different side of the elders hahaha but I think we help keep them in line a little bit too. We had a conference with the assistants, and we all learned a ton!! They did a bunch of activities with us, and they were really effective.  We got to see - more physically - that we need to keep on pushing ourselves in those days even if we are DEAD tired. We need to give all we can, and then a little more. ALSO, we need to respect our leaders, even if ellos no nos caen bien. Because we are all working in this together, we need to be a team. If we cannot have a strong team, how can we expect to succeed as districts or zones or as a mission? It was a great conference!!!!!

S - he put a baptismal goal with us for el 12 de abril. He has such a strong testimony, and is truly converted. He is just working in mustering up the courage to tell his Jewish parents about his decision to be baptized. He is 26, a grownup now.  But he still lives with them and works with his dad. We are praying a lot with him, and have assigned some great chapters in the Book of Mormon about patience and courage and faith. He is a really great guy.

B, S AND NOWWWW Y, Y and M - So we started out just teaching the 2 sisters. But we are now working with their younger brothers and their mom!! YAYYYY :) I love working with families! We actually hiked up to a huge statue of Jesus Christ today and had a ton of fun with them! B is 7 months pregnant, and the brave girl made it all the way up! They all went to church with us on Sunday, and we read a lot in the Book Of Mormon with them. It is something we are focusing on a lot lately, helping our investigators obtain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. If they can gain a testimony of that, then it is certain that their faith and testimony in other things will increase as well. I love this family also!!

Women's Conference was great!! I was bawling hahaha it was so focused in the family, and well I miss mine a lot. But I am SO GRATEFUL to be here, helping others realize that they can have eternal families too.

Love, Hermana Westergard

The District Of Mexicans and Americans - Elder T, M, K, T and Hna A

lots of green

J and E´s wedding!!!!!

J and E´s wedding!!!!!

J and E's baptism :)

selfiez

glowing

struggling hiking hahaha

the climb continues

beautiful Mexico!!!

Enorme Virgen

Hna A y yo

checking out this view

THIS VIEW!!!

con Cristo

everyone is tired

3 cruces 

Bienvenida a Teziutlán

WELL I LOVE TEZIUTLAN!!!!! Honestly, it is SO amazing here. I love it!!! love love love it!!!! It is so pretty, and basically here is where heaven meets the earth. We are basically always in the clouds, and the weather can change from hotish in the morning to cold and rainy at night. We heard that we should be expecting some hail sometime soon, so that should be interesting. We also have a heat fan in the apartment, something I never though I would have in Mexico hahaha. BUT I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!! We get to see the BEST sunrises coming up over the mountains each morning as we go out to run. YES!!! Hermana Aguilar goes with me to this park near our house and I get to actually RUN finally!!! She does stairs and other machine things that they have in the park, but she is full of energy and ready to try out anything! So we have great weather, FANTASTIC investigators, yummy food, I know this cambio is gonna fly by faster than all the other ones.

Food - there are these things called tlacyoyos that my companion loves. It is like a squished patty of maza with a different kind of maza in the middle that has avocado leaf and some other type of leaf also. I dont think they are that great hahaha but whatever floats her boat is fine with me. We also ate an EXTREMELY spicy meal this week. Every little part of it was spicy. There was this chicken and shrimp in crema sauce thing with chipotle and then chicken friend in more chipotle and chiltepin. My stomach hurts just thinking about it. And then there was only COCA. AAAAHHHHHH. I am never ever ever ever drinking soda again after the mission. Coca elevates the spiciness of everything to another level. So deceiving. When you think that you are going to help your burning mouth and stomach, WRONG. It is like adding gasoline to the fire. Ouch. The food was good though. Just veryyyyyyy spicy.

SO. My new companion is Hermana A from Manzanillo. It is a part in Western Mexico that is near Guadalajara and apparently has a lot of cholos - like Mexican punks? Or at least that is what the joke is hahaha. Hna A is definitely NOT a cholo so we are getting along great!!!!! She acts like she has a year in the mission. She knows her scriptures, has SUCH a strong testimony and loves these people with ALL her heart. It is so different to be with a new missionary though. it is like she has so much energy and everything is new and exciting and she has not become accustomed (sp) to the 'missionary routine'. It is like a breath of fresh air to be with her!!! She is 26 and was inactive till about 3 years ago, but is back and stronger than ever! She is bubbly and loves the opening her mouth to talk with everyone. I am so blessed to have her as a companion!!! We feel a little like we are in opposite sides of the mission, but we still get along great!! She is going to do great things here, i know it!! I am learning massive amounts from her.

Something interesting here, people are actually VERY Catholic. Like they say they are Catholic and they ARE. There is a Virgen shrine in basically every corner, and everyone is getting ready for the Semana Santa. This should be an interesing time. 

I and S - I was baptized on Sunday! She has a 9 month old daughter named M, and kind of has a fling with the ward mission leader. He got back like 2 weeks ago from his mission so this could potentially flourish into something really great! He baptized her and everything!

B and S - Their family is Jehovah Witnesses, but B got pregnant and the church basically shunned them all. So now none of them really go. BUT, B's boyfriend is a member of the church, so it is a bit of a problem. He does not want her to go because he has not told anyone. It is awful really, because he is impeding her spiritual progress. They are so great though!!! B is 19 and S is 16, they remind me a lot of me and Ruth or me and Jess. I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!! We had a really spiritual lesson with B, because she wants to go to church but her boyfriend is the problem. She was crying, my eyes were watering up, and in the end her and her sister went to church. Miracles happen.

S - He has gone to church 4 times, his family is Jewish. His dad does not support him AT ALL, and his mom is kind of ruled by his dad. So we have been meeting with him in the church. He has overcome a lot of trials with the commandments, but he has seen huge changes in his life and has a TESTIMONY!!!! He has shared it with me, and my heart was bouncing around in my chest like rice krispies because I was so happy and so excited for him. He went from drinking 8 cups of coffee and day to NOTHING now. He really is a miracle. We fasted with him this week, because he is trying to look for the opportune moment to tell him family that he is going to get baptized. We work by faith

J and E - They also went to church by themselves this Sunday! They have been 5 times, we are just arranging everything to get them married. We are taking out their birth certificates, talking to the judge, setting up appointments to get the bloodwork done, but little by little it is all coming through! They have 2 kids named B and J, who love us too!!!! They take notes in the classes in church and are very excited for their baptisms!!!

R - Interesting old guy. He is very interested in the church and has a lot of questions. But he says that God knows when it is his time to be baptized....we all know that that time is NOW, but people say that as excuses I feel like. We had a crazy lesson with him. We went in planning to finish the Plan of Salvation, but instead talked about the Word of Wisdom and the Restoration and temples and eternal families and I feel like 20 million other things. It was a little all over the place, but the spirit was definitely present and we could feel it testifying to him. What more can we ask for? After talking about the Word of Wisdom, he invited us to try some really great JUICE that he brought from Puebla. Hna A and I look at each other, and we tell him we can drink it if there is not alcohol. He assures us there isn't, and sure enough on the bottle on the outside it says sin alcohol. We smell it though - we both have little glasses - one with cranberry juice and the other with grape. Definitely a little fermented. Yum yum. Ug. It was not alcohol, but we told him he probably shouldn't drink the rest. YAY FOR ADVENTURES IN THE MISSION.

I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!! I love my Savior and I am so grateful for the Atonement. I love you all!!

Love, Hermana Westergard

El distrito con C

after zone class

MY AREA:)

large pants

sunrises every morning!!!

watermelon tree I kid you not

B and S

B and I

I's baptism

Muchos cambios :)

WOW SO MANY CHANGES!!! So we found out transfers last night anddddd....drumroll.......I AM LEAVING XALAPA!!!!!! I am going to go to Tezuitlan! It actually is not a part of the state of Veracruz, it is a part of Puebla. It is in the mountains, I have heard that people are really Catholic, but I am SO EXTREMELY SUPER-DUPER PUMPED!!! I am going to finish the training of Hermana A, she only has 6 weeks here in the mission! This will be so cool to be with a baby missionary. I know I am going to learn so much from her, and I hope to teach her all that I know! I am also a Sister Training Leader, so it is basically like a Zone Leader but with the hermanas. I will get to do divisions with hermanas in Martinez de la Torre, so I will get to know a little bit of that area also!! SO EXCITED!!!!! There has never really been a super guera missionary in Tezuitlan either, so I am ready to hit the road running! Power of the hair.

M - she had her baby finally!!! I feel like I am a part of her family. I am going to miss her so much :( I met her when she was just 6 months pregnant and now she had her baby!!! His name is J G. Less that 3 kilos. What a strong young woman. Hna J promised me she is going to baptize her. She literally is so amazing, I love her!!!!

Zone Conference - we had a zone conference with president and I am pretty sure it is the best zone conference we have had since I have been in the mission. I learned so much!!! AND! WE GOT TO SEE MEET THE MORMONS!!!! It was a surprise for us!!! SUCH A GREAT MOVIE!!!! EVERYONE GO SEE IT! We did a ton of practices, some with only using questions. That was a little more difficult, but president made his point that sometimes we are just vomiting words and are not listening enough. Everyone is also wicked committed to being exactly obedient! We were literally RUNNING back the the house in the rain, getting soaked by cars BUT we made it back by 9! We also talked about the difference between having a testimony and being converted. I am really grateful for President Greer.

Noche de Barrio - was have activities every Thursday in the church. This week, we - the missionaries - made pozole. It is like a soup from chile,onion, tomatoes and garlic all blended up for the broth, and then there are big pieces of meat and huge special kernels of corn. You put onions and radishes and lime and lettuce in it and eat it all with tortilla chips. And it didn´t even turn out half bad. yay!! There were only members that came, so we did some funny practices to show the members how to share with Gospel with their friends or random people- like the taxistas.

Contacting - We have been doing a lot of contacting in parks. It still puts my stomach in knots a little but I am getting less nervous little by little! We started talking to a woman, turns out she is a less active member! WOW!! She was there with her friend, and we started talking to her too. Turns out she works in the grocery store and has seen us before, one time she put our cupcakes we had in a cubby thing. So what do we do the next day? Go to visit her the next day with a lovely muffin and a pamphlet for the Restoration :) The way to the heart is through the stomach. No shame.

I am so excited for this upcoming tansfer!!!!!!!

Love, Hermana Westergard

Conference with presidente

one last zone picture - Estacion

eating chicken feet- yumyum

Hna I and Hno P

M´s beautiful family!!!

messiest popsicle things ever

waiting to make pozole

Another Week

Time is literally going by like water through my hands. AH AH AH! I have officially been in Mexico for a year! We went to renew our visas this week, and this time we could actually understand what they were asking us to sign and do! So we are making progress with the language hahaha.

Weather was bipolar again this week. We were contacting all morning one morning, and the sun was SO STRONG. I got wicked burnt. But I feel like when we contact people are we are dripping sweat and climbing up mountainous hills to look for a reference, they can see how dedicated we are! And that we KNOW this is true. Moral of the story, always have a smile on your face even if you are basically eating the drops of sweat falling down your face, because someone is ALWAYS watching. So, I was nice and toasty red for the baptism pictures for V. It seems like everything was trying to pass so she could not be baptized. The faucet to fill up the font just throws out mud, and so what do we do? We fill up the font one bucket full at a time for 2.5 hours and FINALLY there is a decent amount of water. But wicked cold. Her baptism was really special. Her inactive uncle bore his testimony, and shared all his thoughts about the Church. He knows it is true. The Spirit made that very clear in his testimony. Her grandma also bore her testimony, the room was so full of so much love!!!!

Lamberts, thank you so much for the Valentine´s Day package!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

They divided the stake, so there are now 2 stakes here in Xalapa! We are now a part of the stake Macuiltepec. 

L - A reference from some other missionaries who are teaching her brother. Turns out she talked with missionaries like 5 months ago, but at the time she was living with her boyfriend and was working on Sundays. She is no longer doing either of those things! She is such a sincere person. She is reading praying, and basically wants us to visit her every day. It is refreshing to find people like that!! She has 2 daughters, K and M. One of them has special needs and the other tortures her older sister because she knows what makes her tick. Little planning evil sister. I cannot believe how much patience L has.

A - I planched him with the commandments and i struck a note!!!! I know little by little we will be able to get him to go to church. With the commandments we talked about images and the Virgen and all that stuff. He told me he just would not adore the Virgen and the santos, but then I asked him if he thought that the true church would teach people to break the commandments. He told me know, and then told me that he just would not go to a church and I told him NO!!!! We have to be in the church of Jesus Christ, and in the scriptures it says that His church will have His name. Entonces, La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias. YES!!!!!!! His wife also showed up behind me, and his wife kind of hates us. I got super nervous really quick, and turned wicked red. He asked me why I was changing colors hahahahah I told him it happens when I am nervous. He died laughing and started fanning me with his hands. We were quite a sight.

Doña F and Don N - F invited her friend to the next lesson because she liked the first one so much!!!!! Don N has had more energy lately, he even got up to make rice one day!! The elders came and gave him a blessing one day, and I had goosebumps all over, it was such an amazing experience. It is so hard when you body limits you from doing what you want to do :(

U y M - They have been being a little weird with us lately. We got to the bottom of it though. Their Catholic families are not our biggest fans and they don´t want problems with them. We talked a lot about temples and the priesthood and eternal families and prayer. They are going to pray. Like really really pray though. M seems a little more receptive and willing while U seems more worried about what his family thinks. De todos modos, vamos a trabajar muchisimo con ellos.

Love, Hermana Westergard

I got to see all my Olivo families in stake conference!!

lovely view outside my apartment

Hermana M and Hna S

Familia B S

Hermana A!!!

N!!!

This is M!!

M

 elotes!!

sunset after the HOT day

baptism of V

HappyHappyHappy

Weird....the song Just Another Manic Monday is playing on the memory in the internet place where we are right now. I am being brought back to middle and high school when I made myself wake up at 6 every Monday because I loved this song.....hahahahahahaha. What a weird child I was.

FINALLY FINISHED JESUS THE CHRIST!!!!! What a great book. You all should read it!!!! So crazy, when the book was written in 1973 there were only 8 temples.....look how much the church has grown since then!!!! (editor's note: The book was published in 1915 and there were 4 temples then, now there are 170)

Little kids here are cute. In the prayer for the food, Jocelyn said, bendice a los amilentos instead of los alimentos. We all make mistakes sometimes hahaha

There is a guy 100% completely drunk that we always run into when we are in Lomas de Seminario. He follows us around saying La Iglesia de los Santos de los Ultimos Dias, or some variation of that phrase depending on how drunk he is. BUT, turns out he is a member. How do we know? He talks about the stake center, and told us when he was baptized that the elders pushed him into the water. We told him they did not push him, he is just confused. Then he starts to cry and tells us not to make fun of him. Poor guy. We were not making fun of him. We wrote a note for him telling him where the church is and what time we meet at. The next day he saw us again in the street and comes staggering over to us and is like I still have that note and I am going to go because I want to change. I have never seen him not drunk though. An hermano in the ward told me that his wife died and that is why he drinks so much, to dull the pain. Not quite sure how to help him, because he does not remember what we say 2 minutes after we say it.

C y D F - Referenced from U and M. Turns out they talked with missionaries like 8 years ago too!!!!! We were worried they were not going to be super friendly, there was a big sign on their front door that says basically DO NOT BOTHER US FOR TORTILLAS BEFORE 8 AM. hahahahha so we knocked and C answered the door. His dad - D N - is really sick and they do not know what he has. He has been in bed for 15 years, and just looks like a vegetable really. His brain fully functions, but he has some disease with blisters in his mouth so he cannot talk or eat, but he understands everything we are saying. The lesson - honestly - was completely guided by the Spirit. D F told us - at first - that she is Catholic but she is not changing her religion.But by the end of the lesson she had tears in our eyes and told us we were welcome to come back any day. We had a closing prayer and asked C to say it. He was an alcoholic, but told us he found God in AA. I have never heard such a heartfelt prayers in my entire life. I am pretty sure I have never even prayed like he prayed that night. I asked if we could say the prayer on our knees, so we all kneel down and 15 minutes later he is still praying. WOW. What an experience. I asked him how he felt after the prayer and he said he felt something warm in his heart, and even his ears were tingling with this warmth. AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH my eyes were watering up a little honestly. Such an amazing night. C also told us he was praying the night before for a sign from God of what he should do, and we showed up at his door. He told us like 4 times, I know this is not a coincidence. He also told us we were like a ray of sunlight in their house that night. aaahhhhh

D I y M - Well D I no longer even wants to see us. I knocked on the door, she opened it, saw me, and closed the door in my face without saying a word :( so sad. We are still working with M though and putting lots of goals and verifying a lot. He seems to struggle to find motivation to pray....we are trying to change that. He did go to all 3 hours of church though on Sunday when he told us he was only going to go for 1 house, so yay!!!!!

D G y U y M - References from M. Turns out that they also talked with missionaries like 8 years ago!!!!! We are seeing the importance of planting seeds!!!!! The lessons we have had with them are the lessons a missionary wishes they could have every day. They area actually LISTENING. You can see it in their eyes!! I know that I am not testifying to them, but the Spirit is touching their hearts. How blessed am I to be able to see that in their faces :). U and M are married, have a 5 year old son K, and are expecting another baby. We have taught them The Restoration and the Word of Wisdom. They are praying separately, as a family, reading the Book of Mormon, and they went to church with us on Sunday. THIS is the chosen family I was meant to find here in Museo. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!!!! After one of the lessons, K wanted us to make plato things with him. I made a boat, he told me it was not right, squished it, and made a ´better´one......more like a chunky cube. But whatever floats his boat. I love this family!!!!!

J y J - J is a member and her husband is not. She does not go to church a lot because - well - no one wants to go to church alone. We had a really great lesson with them about faith and prayer. In church on Sunday - SHE FINALLY WENT AGAIN - she told me that her husbad really liked the lesson and that he feels like he can talk with us. He told us he would go to church in 2 Sundays, because we was working the first one. Missionaries have been trying to work with him for a long time, but when they get there, he always leaves and escapes through another exit. BUT this time he stayed!!!!! Little by little!!!!!!

We are not the best missionaries or the best teachers, but we do our best to testify with our hearts and let the Spirit fill in the gaps that we cannot.

Love, Hermana Westergard

flores en Xalapa

Making donuts and the Noche de Barrio